This has to be one of the most memorable theater-going experiences of my career: “You expect wild sights when you go to something billed as a “fire ballet.” So it took a while, at Wednesday night’s opening of “Romeo...

“You know how people say, ‘crawl, walk, run’? Well, for me it was always ‘crawl, walk, ballet’.” –Democratic Caucus Chair and former ballet dancer Rahm Emanuel today on Fresh Air.

My “forecast” of 2007 dance events to look forward to appeared (much truncated) in yesterday’s Chronicle. Three less obvious picks that I’m especially optimistic about: inkBoat (“The Crow Line”: Jan. 19-20...

Christopher Wheeldon is starting his own ballet company. Nice to see that SF Ballet played a small part in this. From the NY Times: “The idea began taking shape last summer when the San Francisco Ballet presented one of his pieces at the...

I was very sorry to learn that Sara Linnie Slocum, lighting designer much appreciated and loved in Bay Area dance circles, died December 27. Appropriately, her memorial service will be held at the Cowell Theater this Sunday.

the dance year that was

I recap the Bay Area’s year in dance for today’s Chronicle: “HIGH: ODC Dance Commons ODC/Dance opened a gleaming 23,000-square-foot, $9.5 million center for dance in the Mission. With classes for young and old, rehearsal space...

This is fun . . . and sort of treacherous. Time Out New York lets the New York dance community review the New York dance critics. The Village Voice’s Deborah Jowitt comes out on top, followed by the Wall Street Journal’s Robert...

I reviewed Ivory Coast troupe Compagnie TcheTche for today’s Chronicle: “Pain has probably never displayed itself so authentically as on the faces of Compagnie Tch?Tch?, a quartet of female dancers from Ivory Coast. Suffering was...

I was surprised and saddened yesterday to receive a press release announcing that Summerdance Santa Barbara, the fantastically smart and provocative festival of contemporary dance founded by Dianne Vapnek, is suspending operations after ten...

I reviewed the SF Hip Hop Dance Fest for today’s Chronicle: “The idea of a hip-hop dance festival may seem gratuitous in an age when everyone from Justin Timberlake to a squeaky puppet named Elmo is doing it. But there was no festival...