ballet

The Krakatuk is the Hardest Nut in the World!

E. Wallis Cain Carbonell

“It’s the last place that magic exists.”

A group of five individuals, dressed in business attire, all gather together for a selfie in the velvet-carpeted lobby of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Jane, at the front left, is a white, brunette woman with a medium pixie cut. Clad in a magenta blazer and black turtleneck, Jane dons a bright, bespectacled smile. Grinning behind Jane, Mallory, a white woman with dirty blonde hair, wears a black and white gingham dress and holds a silver clasp. Malik, a tawny-skinned Black man in a black button-down and trousers, stands beaming at Mallory’s left. Allison and Chloe, dressed in a white button-down and a floral dress respectively, lean into the photo, offering their smiles as well.
Photo courtesy of Ashayla Byrd

The Leaders Behind the Headlines: Conversations with the Kennedy Center’s [Terminated] Dance Programming Team

Ashayla Byrd

What happens when political agendas take precedence over a nation’s desire to feel seen and supported in artistic spaces?

Choreographer Charles Askegard guides a poignant moment as Oksana Maslova collapses into Sterling Baca’s arms. Her knees are drawn to her chest, toes pointed, arms extended overhead, lifted off the floor, expressing grief while supported by her partner.
Photo: Adrenaline Film

The Art of Rising: Ballet Responds to the War in Ukraine

Lauren Berlin

Dance, War, and the Work That Became the Most Important of Maslova’s Career.

Various cast members of The Nutcracker at Ballet Theatre of Scranton pose and smile against a white background. They gaze at one another, wearing costumes from the show: tutus, a giant mouse costume, men in leggings and boots. The women wear diamond crowns and curls in their buns, and everyone looks delighted to be with one another.
Photo: Ballet Theatre of Scranton

A Tale of Two Cities: “The Nutcracker” in Pennsylvania

Megan Mizanty

A behind-the-scenes look at a beloved annual performance.

Grim.Grotesque.Grand.

Lauren Berlin

Philadelphia Ballet’s Evening of Horror gloriously affirms its stunning power to probe the monster within

Four dancers move among scattered votive candles in a darkened studio, the studio lights off, their forms illuminated only by the flickering flames.
Photo: Lauren Berlin

This One is Dedicated to the Bunheads

Lauren Berlin

Where Echoes Remain by Marina Kec Explores the Psyche of a Ballerina

With eyes closed, Nadia Beugré holds a stick in her mouth and tilts her head to the left. More wooden sticks frame her face. She is sweaty, her right arm strong and flexed.
Photo: Werner Strouven

Le Corps (The Body)

E. Wallis Cain Carbonell

A body of work, a dancer’s body, a home for a human being, a “corps de ballet.”

Photo: Sasha Onyshchenko

we show you what we want to

desire amaiya

are moments enough?

Photo: Brian Mengini

Interdisciplinary Inquiry at Temple’s Dance Faculty Concert

Ziying Cui

Five innovative choreographies by the current faculty of the Dance Department.

Book Review: A Magic Carpet Ride Through Ballet’s History of Orientalism

Catja Christensen

Banishing Orientalism is an intellectually stimulating, essential read.