Utah Arts Review

BW dancers show impressive choreographic chops in “Works from Within” – May 15, 2025

Lilian Casscells and Adrian Fry in Ballet West’s Lingering Echoes. Photo: Ross Richey

Ballet West is finishing its season with “Works From Within,” which opened Wednesday night at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center. 

This program, which alternates yearly with the company’s “Choreographic Festival, has long been an incubator for new works by Ballet West dancers and an important part of the season since Adam Sklute was hired as artistic director in 2007. This year’s program includes premieres by returning choreographers Emily Adams … Read More

Ballet West delivers a varied and exquisite Stravinsky feast – Apr 05, 2025

Ballet West performed Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring Friday night. Photo: Beau Pearson

Ballet West continues its season with “The Rite of Spring,” Friday night at the Lawson Capitol Theatre. This triple-bill program explores the music of Igor Stravinsky while also examining the commonalities and differences of works created over the span of a century.   

The program opened with the Utah premiere of Jiří Kylián’s Symphony of Psalms. Kylián’s choreography is kinetic, requiring dancers with … Read More

Ballet West II takes the spotlight for a light-hearted family “Aladdin” – Mar 29, 2025

Ballet West II presents two more Aladdin performances on Saturday. Photo: BW

Ballet West II and the Ballet West Academy have their moment to shine in the company’s Family Series production of Aladdin. 

Ballet West II is the small pre-professional corps that often performs smaller roles in mainstage Ballet West productions like The Nutcracker, but they get to perform the leads in Aladdin. Ballet West Academy is the school for training future ballet dancers of all ages and levels. 

Choreographed by Pamela … Read More

Ballet West serves up humor and visual splendor with a fresh “Cinderella” – Feb 08, 2025

Amy Potter and Hadriel Diniz in Ballet West’s Cinderella. Photo: Beau Pearson

Ballet West’s Cinderella is a timely work for February, both brightening up the winter gloom, and adding a touch of romance for Valentine’s Day.  

Cinderella is the story of a mistreated young woman who, through help from a fairy godmother, goes in secret to a royal ball, falls in love with a prince, and lives happily ever after. Many versions of Cinderella focus on the romance, but Sir Frederick … Read More

Ballet West’s beloved “Nutcracker” remains spirited and delightful at 80 – Dec 07, 2024

Katlyn Addison and Adrian Fry in Ballet West’s The Nutcracker. Photo: Beau Pearson

Ballet West’s Nutcracker marks the beginning of the holiday season for many Utahns, and this year the company is celebrating the 80th anniversary of Willam Christensen’s historic production. Christensen’s The Nutcracker premiered in 1944 with San Francisco Ballet and was the first full-length production in America. Christensen brought his version to Ballet West in 1955, where it has been performed ever since.  

The story of The Nutcracker opens … Read More

Ballet West exults with color and joy in “Pictures at an Exhibition” – Nov 09, 2024

Emily Adams and Victoria Vassos (above) in George Balanchine’s Serenade at Ballet West. Photo: Beau Pearson

Ballet West opened its season two weeks ago with a dark Jekyll and Hyde. The company’s second program of the season, Pictures at an Exhibition is its polar opposite, with three ballets that, in their own way, explore movement and feelings of playfulness and joy. 

The program opened with George Balanchine’s Serenade, a work that has been popular at Ballet West for decades. On opening night, … Read More

Ballet West mixes it up madly with “Jekyll and Hyde” – Oct 27, 2024

Katlyn Addison and David Huffmire in Ballet West’s Jekyll and Hyde. Photo: Beau Pearson

Ballet West opened its 2024-25 season with Jekyll and Hyde, a retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic novella, choreographed by Val Caniparoli. This production is an exploration of opposites, not just in the dichotomy of the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but also presented through the details of the sets, costumes, music.

Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an allegory for man’s … Read More

Ballet West closes season with a colorful array of “Asian Voices” – Jun 07, 2024

Emily Adams in Phil Chan’s Amber Waves, part of Ballet West’s Choreographic Fest VI. Photo: Beau Pearson

This weekend Ballet West closes its 60th anniversary season with the “Choreographic Festival,” the company’s program focused on new works. Since 2008, this final program of the season has been an avenue for incubating new works from Ballet West dancers and emerging choreographers. In recent years, it has included premieres from other American and international ballet companies. 

This year’s program is subtitled “Asian Voices,” and … Read More

Weimar-era “Green Table” proves a powerful experience in Ballet West program – Apr 13, 2024

Adrian Fry in The Green Table in Ballet West’s “Love and War” program. Photo: Beau Pearson

With “Love and War,” Ballet West offers a triple bill of diverse works, including a Utah premiere. All of these pieces showcase the dancers’ agility and wide range of expressive movement. 

And Friday night’s opening performance at the Capitol Theatre, afford the company showed off its remarkably precise, well defined dancing both individually and as an ensemble.

The most successful of the three works was The … Read More