Dance

“Cinderella,” Stravinsky, and premieres in the spotlight in Ballet West’s 2024-25 season – Feb 29, 2024

Pictures at an Exhibition will be performed by Ballet West November 8-16. Photo: Beau Pearson

Ballet West will offer a lively array of events in its 2024-25 season, including four Utah premieres.

Following the Halloween tradition of the company’s popular Dracula, Ballet West will open the season October 25 with the local debut of Jekyll & Hyde. Based upon the celebrated Robert Louis Stevenson story, Jekyll & Hyde is choreographed by Val Caniparoli, with music of Chopin, Penderecki and Górecki.

Pictures at an … Read More

“Swan Lake” takes flight in Ballet West’s elegant production – Feb 10, 2024

Emily Adams and Adrian Fry star in Ballet West’s Swan Lake. Photo: Beau Pearson

There is no question that Ballet West is this country’s leading regional ballet company. And that it is recognized nationally as a top-notch company should come as no surprise. 

The ballet troupe’s remarkable artistry was on full display at Friday’s opening-night performance of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.

The sold-out audience at the Capitol Theatre was treated to a superb production of this venerable and much-loved ballet. The performance by the principals … Read More

Ballet West’s spirited “Nutcracker” returns for a welcome revival – Dec 11, 2023

Emily Adams and Hadriel Diniz in Ballet West’s Nutcracker. Photo: Beau Pearson

WASHINGTON. Nutcracker season is upon us. The Kennedy Center has taken to presenting its sumptuous performances of the Tchaikovsky favorite over Thanksgiving weekend, with a different American company invited each year in a pleasing rotation of different productions. 

This year, Utah’s Ballet West made its fourth trip to the Opera House with its storybook staging, based on the first complete Nutcracker in the United States, choreographed by Willam F. Christensen.

Seen at the Sunday matinee performance, this visit offered a second chance to take … Read More

“Dracula” rises again in Ballet West’s devilishly entertaining revival  – Oct 22, 2023

Amy Potter as Flora and Tyler Gum in the title role of Ballet West’s Dracula. Photo: Beau Pearson.

What are the odds of encountering Franz Liszt’s Totentanz on consecutive nights performed in two wholly different genres? 

Such was the case with Liszt’s work—performed by pianist Joyce Yang with the Utah Symphony Friday night and then again as part of the score for Ballet West’s highly entertaining and atmospheric revival of Dracula Saturday at the Lawson Capitol Theatre.

Ben Stevenson’s devilishly clever adaptation, debuted at Houston Ballet in 1997, is becoming … Read More

Ballet West closes season with a bracing blast of classic modernism – Apr 17, 2023

Ballet West performed Stravinsky’s Les Noces Friday night. Photo: Beau Pearson

The final Ballet West production of the season finds the company tucking away grandiose Romantic narratives for three short, exploratory works. In these less-often-seen works from some of the most notable artists of the 20th century, Ballet West showcased the strength and skills of their dancers Friday night in a style of dance as much informed by ballet as it is modern choreography, folk dance and he avant garde. 

The main work … Read More

Ballet West’s “Snow White” for young people proves an enjoyable show for all ages – Apr 08, 2023

Jonas Malinka-Thompson as the Prince and Stella Birkinshaw in the title role of Ballet West II’s Snow White. Photo: Beau Pearson

In his program statement for Snow White, Ballet West artistic director Adam Sklute writes that the show was “created to introduce children and families to the joys of this magical art form.” Ballet’s West’s ballet mistress, Pamela Robinson-Harris choreographed this production in 2019 to her own selection of music from Grieg and Johann Strauss II as a part of the company’s quasi-educational … Read More

Ballet West’s “Sleeping Beauty” awakens classic to brilliant life – Feb 12, 2023

Emily Adams performs the title role in Ballet West’s Sleeping Beauty. Photo: Beau Pearson

In Ballet West’s production of Sleeping Beauty, which opened Friday night at the Lawson Capitol Theatre, the company finds modern novelty in one of the most famous and renowned repertoire ballets. 

While the show revives the 2011 joint choreography by Pamela Robinson-Harris (Prologue and Act II) and Mark Goldweber (Acts I and III), the current show features brand-new sets from Alain Vaes in all but Act II. These are subtle and … Read More

Ballet West’s timeless “Nutcracker” serves up another round of seasonal joy for all ages – Dec 03, 2022

Ballet West’s The Nutcracker runs through December 24. File photo: Beau Pearson

Another December means another round of Ballet West’s beloved Nutcracker.

Now in its 67th season, this venerable Nutcracker builds on the renowned choreography and staging of Willam F. Christensen and provides undoubtedly the biggest show of the year for the company. Year after year, Ballet West sells out a dozen or so performances, proving that Utah audiences have an insatiable hunger for this holiday tradition. 

Friday night’s opening night performance showed … Read More

Ballet West’s program of short works delivers with “Rodeo” and Balanchine/Bach  – Nov 14, 2022

Jenna Rae Herrera and Tyler Gum in Ballet West’s Rodeo. Photo: Beau Pearson

Ballet West’s most recent program forgoes the massive, three-act ballets that crowd the rest of its current season for three shorter pieces from the canon. While many audience members like a big, bold melodrama, mixed lineups such as this offer less grand and more specific explorations. 

At its best, the show, seen at its closing performance Saturday night, presented some of the unique strengths of Ballet West in ways that … Read More

Ballet West brings fresh dramatic life and nuance to Cranko’s timeless “Onegin” – Oct 23, 2022

Katlyn Addison as Tatiana and Adrian Fry in the title role of Onegin at Ballet West. Photo: Beau Pearson

Ballet West opens their 59th season with a lauded classic, John Cranko’s setting of Alexander Pushkin’s 19th century verse novel, Eugene Onegin. 

This well-known tale of love offered, rejected and offered and rejected again—made into a celebrated opera by Tchaikovsky, which here supplies the music (arranged by Kurt-Heinz Stolze)—serves as a fitting base for a dramatic ballet. The tale among the well-heeled Russian nobility features … Read More