utah dance

Two thrilling season openers: Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Act I, Repertory Dance Theatre’s Legend & Lore

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RIRIE-WOODBURY DANCE COMPANY: ACT 1 Expanding the possibilities of dance theater, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s 63rd season opener, Act 1 was as spiritually entertaining and satisfying as it was artistically successful. With two new works by eminent New York choreographers, the production rose upon the company’s legacy of innovative artistic directions that its founders Shirley Ririe … Read more

Repertory Dance Theatre’s 61st season set to open with Legend & Lore, featuring world premiere commission, three other historical works

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The world premiere of Penny Saunders’ Legend Has It will fit perfectly into Repertory Dance Theatre’s (RDT) 61st season opener, Legend & Lore.  It’s a smart segue from the company’s exceptional 60th anniversary season celebration of its own history.  Saunders’ commission is the inaugural offering in RDT’s Living Landscapes initiative. Legend & Lore also features … Read more

Two late summer dance performances: RDT Link Series’ This Will Destroy You, Nava Dance Theatre’s Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies

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REPERTORY DANCE THEATRE LINK SERIES: THIS WILL DESTROY YOU If one needed a forceful example of dance’s capacity to convey intense emotions, This Will Destroy You, an evening-length work directed by Molly Heller, was presented recently by RDT’s Link Series. The cycles of grief, labor, care, and unresolved voids were evoked in ways that superseded … Read more

Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s season of three acts set to expand possibilities in dance theater

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Having mastered the learning curve of how Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company functions and is embedded in Utah’s world-class ecosystem of dance, Leslie Kraus enters her second season as artistic director with her first curated season of productions which will expand upon the possibilities of dance theater and will embolden audiences to intimately connect with evolving ideals … Read more

UtahPresents’ 11th season set to continue blockbuster momentum on all performing arts fronts

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UtahPresents’ 10th anniversary season provided a continuous stream of blockbuster moments, combined with just as consistently sold-out houses for its shows. The 11th season promises to be just as impactful, with family shows as well as series highlighting internationally acclaimed dance companies, and contemporary and jazz musicians, along with the equally outstanding Stage Door Series, … Read more

Theater roundup: Footpath Theatre Company’s Western Minerals and Their Origins, The Rose Performing Arts Coalition’s Nevermore, ThreePenny Theatre Company’s The Death of Nero

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WESTERN MINERALS AND THEIR ORIGINS: FOOTPATH THEATRE COMPANY IN ASSOCIATION WITH FLYING BOBCAT THEATRICAL LABORATORY AND UTAHPRESENTS  Setting an impressive benchmark for UtahPresents’ Stage Door Series opener, Western Minerals and Their Origins by Footpath Theatre Company in collaboration with Flying Bobcat Theatrical Laboratory is among the best chamber theater plays that have emerged over the … Read more

Nitya Nritya set to celebrate 10th anniversary with an extensive weekend of Indian classical and contemporary dance and music at Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center, Kingsbury Hall

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One of the most extensive weekends of events ever held in Salt Lake City focusing on Indian classical and contemporary dance and music, including Bharatanatyam repertoire (pronounced Bah-rah-the-na-tee-yum) as well as a fusion of Carnatic classical music with contemporary jazz and funk styles will take place Sept. 11-12, respectively, at the Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center … Read more

Ambitious Park City Opera production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette hits many excellent marks in musicianship, singing, choreographed ballet passages

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Of the 12 operas that Charles Gounod wrote, two have survived the test of time: Faust, which is superb and Roméo et Juliette, which is the only one in this form based on this Shakespeare play that earned street credit in the theater. Premiered in 1867, Roméo et Juliette stands primarily on the music that … Read more

Nevermore: once again, annual Performing Arts Coalition show at The Rose set to raise the bar with comedic riff on Poe’s The Raven

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Only a literary figure with stature such as Edgar Allan Poe has an NFL team honoring his creative legacy. When the Baltimore Ravens won its first Super Bowl in 2001, playing perfect defense and winning by a score of 34-7 against the New York Giants, game announcer Chris Berman proclaimed, “Quoth the Ravens, never score!”  … Read more

Ballet West’s 63rd season augurs well as one for the history books: Adam Sklute’s final and 20th season looks to be stirring artistic valedictory

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Twenty years ago, when Adam Sklute, former dancer and associate artistic director at The Joffrey Ballet, arrived in Salt Lake City to become Ballet West’s artistic director, the board of directors tasked him with three objectives. One was to strengthen the caliber and quality of the dancers and production. Another was to increase the  national … Read more