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"Varone can make the most common gesture, a grasp of the hand, or an arm outstretched in regret and let it soar into the realm of imagination."

-- Toronto Star  

"Take a deep breath, because Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is going to take your breath away."

-- The Washington Post  

"Ailey's phenomenal popularity is unmatched by any other company."

-- The New York Times  

"The continuity of changing imagery, the easy sensuousness and the wonderful push-me-pull-you surprises of the physicality: These still seem to come right out of their makers' dreams and into ours."

-- Alastair Macaulay, The New York Times  

"The Latin-American experience at last has a voice in the feisty, elegant dancing of Ballet Hispanico"

-- The New York Times  

"If there's a classically trained company of the future, it's Aspen Santa Fe Ballet"
-- Boston Herald
 

"Pascal Rioult celebrates the lyrical and the gutsy in his unmistakably individual and beguiling way."-- The New York Times

"Rioult stretches the imagination...creating a spine chilling work of choreography.... Perhaps the most adept and courageous choreographer in mainstream modern dance today." - Backstage

"Viewing Wien is like getting a front row seat at a grade 5 tornado." - The Salt Lake Tribune
 

"Part surreal vaudeville, part circus, and part toy store after midnight. Whimsical… a delight for the eye." – The Village Voice

"Pinto's movement is sophisticated, rigorous, stylized. With the help of director Avshalom Pollak, she organizes those elements into a shimmering, shadowy world at once puzzling and plausible, a fantasy as eternally quixotic as a clown's sorrowful smile." – Vicki Sanders, Boston Herald
 

"Its dancers are better than ever, with the marvelous athleticism, vivid personalities and sleek sensuality the company has long fostered." -John Rockwell, The New York Times

"Wherever they go, they raise the roof. The sheer joy flooding across the footlights is irresistible." -The Times (Scotland)
 

"If you like your dance virtuosic, spiritually uplifting and socially conscious, don't miss Philadanco." – The Philadelphia Enquirer  

"The Joffrey Ballet has long been known for its versatility, moving as it has from one divergent style to another with easy verve for half a century."-- The New York Times

"The Cleveland Orchestra and Joffrey Ballet create bold, beautiful ballet together." - The Plain Dealer
 

"Bill T. Jones is a dancer abundantly blessed with musicality. Whether he is poised in classical ballet positions or sashaying about in a quick vaudeville buck-and-wing, he appears to find the best movement for the right moment"
-- Chicago Tribune  

"These choreographers have been honing their voices for many years. It shows; theirs is work to savor."

-- The New York Times  

"Awesome dancing and a backbeat to knock it all home. Eye-popping digital effects." -- The Village Voice  

"The kinetic delight of Keigwin's high-powered dancing is infectious."

-- Dance Magazine  

"Ballet Memphis is something of a little engine that could, to sum up the imaginative grit of Dorothy Gunther Pugh, who has presided over the group with equal dashes of elegance and temerity for 20 years." – The New York Times  

"Paul Taylor is quite simply the most extraordinary choreographer alive. Steps flow from him and ideas bubble ."

-- Clive Barnes, New York Post  

"If the comedy group Monty Python were a ballet company, it might be something like the Trockaderos."rnrn-- San Diego Arts  

"Stunningly inventive…mesmerizing…passionate…this is what dance is really about."

-- The New York Times  

"Doug Elkins is an authentic creator who knows how to hustle and translate traditional choreographic language into new forms..."

-- Le Figaro, Paris  

"The Cunningham dancers are among the strongest, most heroic anywhere."

-- The Washington Post  

"When you go to see choreography by Moses Pendleton, artistic director and founder of MOMIX, you expect to be astonished. Botanica…has astonishment to spare." – Nancy G. Heller, The Philadelphia Enquirer  

"A rare accomplishment in the world of contemporary dance. Barton's alarmingly original voice resounds with a thwack." -- Boston Globe

"Barton's dancers are like bold splashes of paint. They shimmer and resonate like stringed instruments, sing in overtones, and emote in a multitude of tongues." -Dance Magazine
 

Companies

-- View By Season -- 2011-2012 Season2010-2011 Season2009-2010 Season2008-2009 Season

Ballet Memphis

PlayhouseSquare - Ohio Theatre
Saturday, March 10th, 2012 8:00 PM
Sunday, March 11th, 2012 3:00 PM

Presented by DANCECleveland

Ballet Memphis, founded and directed by Dorothy Gunther Pugh, is known for its original and thought-provoking work, serving as an interpreter of the South's cultural legacy.

The company will perform Trey McIntyre's In Dreams, praised by The New York Times as "exceptional." Performed to the expressive voice of Roy Orbison, In Dreams is a sometimes dark, always passionate journey through six of the legendary artist's most popular songs. Also on the program are S'epaniour with choreography by Jane Comfort and music by Kirk Whalum. The piece tells the story of a woman in the depths of an emotional crisis whose community comes to her aid and lifts her to a joyous transformation. The company will dance the joyful new work Being Here with Other People by Steven McMahon set to Beethoven's Concerto in D Major for Violin and Orchestra and Curtain of Green by Julia Adam, an abstract retelling of lost love, fear and madness inspired by the story of the same name by Eudora Welty.

If northeast Ohio still had a classical ballet company in residence, it might look and feel like Ballet Memphis.

BALLET MEMPHIS is now in its 25th anniversary season and is recognized for its close ties to the region's rich musical and literary heritage through dance, production and training, including its lauded Memphis Project works. Ballet Memphis has staff and facilities of the highest caliber, and partners with artists from around the globe for collaborative and original works. The Ford Foundation lauded Ballet Memphis as a "national treasure." The company has received grants and high praise from other foundations and national media alike, including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Dance Project, the New York Times, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, Fast Company, Dance magazine, Pointe magazine and others. It has performed to excellent reviews at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., at the Joyce Theater and the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse in New York City, at Houston's Dance Salad, at the Festival des Arts de Saint-Saveur (Canada), Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts, among others.

"Ballet Memphis is something of a little engine that could, to sum up the imaginative grit of Dorothy Gunther Pugh, who has presided over the group with equal dashes of elegance and temerity for 20 years." – The New York Times

http://www.balletmemphis.org/

The George Gund Foundation

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

PlayhouseSquare - State Theatre
Friday, May 4th, 2012 8:00 PM
Saturday, May 5th, 2012 8:00 PM
Sunday, May 6th, 2012 3:00 PM

Presented by PlayhouseSquare in partnership with DANCECleveland

Renowned for its soul-stirring, high-energy performances, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is one of the world's great dance companies. Taking popular music, gospel and jazz and fusing modern dance and ballet, this company of athletic dancers radiates a passionate and explosive energy that is purely infectious. Since its premiere performance in 1958, the company has earned a reputation as one of the most acclaimed international ambassadors of American culture, promoting the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience and the preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance heritage.

After Mr. Ailey's untimely death in 1989, Judith Jamison, Mr. Ailey's hand-picked successor and former Ailey dancer, took the artistic leadership of the organization. In 2010, Ms. Jamison announced her impending retirement, and selected dancer and choreographer Robert Battle as her replacement. Mr. Battle will assume the position of Artistic Director in July of this year, and the 2011-2012 season will be the first full season under his leadership.

"Its dancers are better than ever, with the marvelous athleticism, vivid personalities and sleek sensuality the company has long fostered." -John Rockwell, The New York Times

"Wherever they go, they raise the roof. The sheer joy flooding across the footlights is irresistible." -The Times (Scotland)

http://www.alvinailey.org/

The George Gund Foundation

The George W. Codrington Charitable Foundation