At long last--autumn dance. more ›

On The Boards today announced their lineup for the 2011/2012 season and it looks impressive. It promises to be even more eclectic and, with two bonus special events, including a farewell performance of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, more extensive than years past. more ›

This evening is the last performance of Spectrum Dance Theater's "Icono-Clan" show at the Moore, and while the bill contains three works--Merce Cunningham's 1972 Landrover and Gus Solomons, Jr.'s 1976 Statements of Nameless Roots join Donald Byrd's 1993 Sentimental Cannibalism--only Byrd's piece emerges without a self-interested patina from the age of Modern Dance blurring it (or John Cage's elliptical strolls across the piano, or a soundtrack devised by recording microphone feedback). Delightfully, Byrd says that Jean Baudrillard's examination of seduction as "a challenge" and "a highly conventional and ritualized pact" was the jumping off point for his piece, featuring eight Spectrum dancers (four men and four women), and music by Mio Morales. Perhaps through simple chronology, Byrd's piece also represents the most striking reunion of the discipline and possibility of ballet with a wider world of dance gesture and movement. Catch it at 5 p.m. at the Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Avenue. Tickets are $15-$29.50 (plus fees). more ›

One thing about Spectrum Dance Theater's shows is that the dancers have to act fast, and they seem to expect the same of the audience--their "Icono-Clan" show is at the Moore for two shows this weekend, and that's it. more ›

This is Week 3 of Pacific Northwest Ballet's Celebrate Seattle Festival, and the busiest one. There's the cunningly named Program A, Program B, and Program C, all highlighting the work of locally born or spent-some-time-here choreographers. Plus, one of our favorite good times, 10 Tiny Dances is performing One Tiny Dance in the lobby at intermissions. more ›

As we mentioned the other day, Seattlest was very excited for the PNB production of Carmina Burana, but we left a bit perplexed and frustrated. To start, we enjoyed Mark Morris' Pacific, a light and dreamy piece that found our thoughts wandering in a pleasant way about halfway through, befitting of a day spent listening to the ocean advance and retreat while pretending to read a book. It was a short and "limited" (to borrow from Seattlest Michael's summation) composition, but the perfect exemplar of Morris' work: seamless integration of ballet's technique and precision with the freedom and rule-free whimsy of modern dance. We love that he breaks ballet traditions by having group pieces with three men and one woman, all performing the same choreography (sure, later in Carmina Burana we have a woman with three men but stereotypically she's a harpy and they are pining for her), and the costumes were simple and perfectly suited to the choreography. more ›

THAT STARBUCKS "I WAS A CHILD SOLDIER" GUY: At twelve, Ishmael Beah found himself fleeing rebels, wandering from village to village. At thirteen, he was a soldier in Sierra Leone, hooked on drugs and capable of things he would never have imagined. Now, rehabilitated and living in the U.S., he tells his story in A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, in an attempt to raise awareness of the child soldier phenomenon. more ›