For many in Salt Lake City, one of the greatest sources of pride in the local performing arts scene has been Willam Christensen’s efforts to make the first American version of The Nutcracker. As The Utah Review documented recently in a historical feature, he transported this version from its San Francisco premiere in 1944 to … Read more
By Chris Myers For 60 years, Ballet West has been arguably among the finest jewels in Salt Lake City’s artistic crown. As the recent retrospective in The Utah Review demonstrated, this company has led the way to bring artistic excellence to the Intermountain West. Beginning last Friday (Nov. 3) with the company’s latest production, Ballet … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ballet West is celebrating its 60th anniversary and the newest production, which opens Nov. 3, is a tribute to Willam F. Christensen, who co-founded the company. Featured are Christensen’s version of The Firebird, the world premiere of Fever Dream by Joshua Whitehead, recently retired and long-term Ballet West artist, and George Balanchine’s Stars … Read more
What better way to celebrate the Halloween season than with the first-class productions of Ballet West’s Dracula and Pioneer Theatre Company’s The Rocky Horror Show. BALLET WEST: DRACULA By Chris Myers In 1997, choreographer Ben Stevenson chose to celebrate the centennial of Bram Stoker’s Dracula with a ballet adaptation that would not have seemed out … Read more
The trope of the female ballerina has forever been at the core of classical ballet, on and off stage. But, as with the spectrum of all performing arts companies and organizations, the world of classical ballet is slowly coming around to the realities of staying viable in an artistic world that represents new generations of … Read more
With each work evoking its unique intricate, intuitive rhythmically reciprocal relationship between music and movement, the trio of Ballet West premieres in its most recent production proved to be the crowning highlight of the company’s superb 59th season. A complex program of rigorous demands in all aspects, the presentation of Bronislava Nijinska’s Les Noces, Jerome … Read more
BALLET WEST: SLEEPING BEAUTY EDITOR’S NOTE: This Ballet West review is written by Chris Myers of Argyle Arts. In ballet, opera, theater, and even the classical concert world, there are a number of challenges that arise when presenting what might be considered an “historically accurate” or “original practice” version of a work. But perhaps the … Read more
For the first time in three years, Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) is holding Regalia, its largest annual fundraiser, in person. As usual, the stakes are significant. Four choreographers are assigned a group of dancers to create a short work (usually five but less than 10 minutes in length) in just four hours. The kicker is … Read more
It might surprise many readers that for critics, writing a review of The Nutcracker ballet is actually not as easy as it might appear. It is one of the most widely performed works in the end-of-the-year holiday season and audiences love it, whether it is in a lavish professional production or a small-town amateur community … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Utah Review is pleased to present this review by guest writer Chris Myers of Argyle Arts. Good artistic programming can result in a performance that is more meaningful than the sum of its already formidable parts. Paired properly, works interact with one another, providing new perspectives and highlighting themes that might otherwise … Read more