Category Archives: ballet

Alonzo King Lines Ballet Moves from Stage to Page

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Larissa Archer

The cliché about ballet dancers is that they are “light on their feet,” that they “float” and “soar” across the stage. I’ve always felt the opposite to be more interesting: nobody reveals a more solid connection to the ground. Even … Continue reading →

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I’m Complaining about Mark Morris’s “Beaux” at San Francisco Ballet again.

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Larissa Archer

While San Francisco Ballet’s premiere of resident choreographer Yuri Possokhov’s new Rite of Spring was the big draw in Program Three, the evening started with two of last year’s premieres: Ashley Page’s Guide to Strange Places and Mark Morris’s Beaux. … Continue reading →

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“Nijinsky” with Hamburg Ballet, for Zyzzyva

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Larissa Archer

A few people straggled almost unnoticed onto the stage of the War Memorial Opera House before the house lights had dimmed, and they began to talk. Even before the dancing had begun, their presence was an announcement that one had … Continue reading →

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“Rudolf Nureyev: A Life in Dance” at the De Young, Art Practical

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Larissa Archer

A museum may not be the ideal venue to showcase a performative art such as dance, which only exists in the living bodies of its practitioners. So it makes sense that the de Young Museum, in collaboration with France’s Centre … Continue reading →

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My “Best of 2012” arts round-up, Art Practical

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Larissa Archer

As futile as it is to try to sum up the best arts events a cosmopolitan city like San Francisco offered in a year, especially with a mere 1200 word-count, I gave it a try for Art Practical. I settled … Continue reading →

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I’m going to the opening of Lines’s spring season tomorrow. Are you?

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Larissa Archer

You all know how much I love Lines Dance Company, right? So I’m thrilled to be attending the opening of their home season tomorrow night at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. They’re performing Triangle of the Squinches, which is … Continue reading →

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Trio, Francesca da Rimini, and Carnaval des Animaux at SF Ballet for Zyzzyva

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Larissa Archer

Helgi Tomasson, the San Francisco Ballet’s artistic director and principal choreographer, combined elements of modern and classical ballet to create “Trio,” set to Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence. While much of the ballet recalls the aggrandized ballroom prancing one sees so often, … Continue reading →

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Chroma, Beaux, and Number Nine at SF Ballet, for Zyzzyva

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Larissa Archer

The San Francisco Ballet’s Program 2, which finished its run late last month, started strong. Wayne McGregor’s “Chroma” — one of three works making up the program — looked more like contact sport than ballet, an effect strengthened by the … Continue reading →

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SF Ballet’s “Onegin”, Zyzzyva

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Larissa Archer

Often, the thing we love about the work of a great author is the ability to describe a moment, an emotion, some nuance of experience, in such a way that it is immediately recognizable to us, however foreign to our … Continue reading →

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I’m going to this tomorrow. Are you?

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Larissa Archer

So you want to “get fit.”  But prolonged periods of training are dangerous; you eventually find yourself sporting a Borat leotard and kissing your own biceps in the mirror. When you’re finally sick of post-workout Jamba Juice and hating the … Continue reading →

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