Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | George Balanchine

To celebrate its return to the theatre after lockdown, New York City Ballet pulled out all the stops with a triple bill of Balanchine's Serenade and Symphony in C and Wheeldon's After the Rain. The house went wild. 

An assortment of oddments from the repertoire to honour seven departing PNB dancers.

An evening of George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins at Covent Garden, topped by a beautifully poignant rendering of Dances at a Gathering.

Sofia Coppola's film closed on a note of optimism. The message seemed to be: “Normality is just around the corner. We’re coming back.” 

George Balanchine’s short-but-thrilling ballet Allegro Brillante is tailor-made to Mayara Piniero’s talents in Philadelphia. 

The whole Company exudes bravura and panache in gala programme headlined by a Zucchetti premiere and a Wheeldon classic.

New York City Center’s annual Fall for Dance festival heads online in a pair of programs, one much stronger than the other. 

Pacific Northwest Ballet's Rep 1 delivers a magnificent first installment of their 2020-2021 virtual season.

An event that will be long-remembered for the importance of the occasion, if not for its content. 

An evening of sparkle and bravura at London's international ballet gala. 

Ashley Bouder, Tiler Peck and Megan Fairchild were at the top of their game in a Balanchine triple bill at New York City Ballet

From the frivolous to the profound, New York City Ballet celebrates the galvanizing partnership of George Balanchine and Igor Stravinsky.

A slick and stylish celebration at the Coliseum of this great company's achievements over 70 years.

Balanchine’s Nutcracker may have premiered in 1954, but every year tickets sell out for this festive treat. 

Great story, colorful costumes and sets, dozens of performers all add up to the annual extravaganza of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker. Pacific Northwest Ballet's superb artists portray its wonders again.

A mixed evening at the Koch Theater, with ABT shining in Ratmansky and a new Twyla Tharp creation, but struggling in Balanchine. 

Judging by the enthusiastic audience reactions to this program one might have to rethink the modern/ballet divide. Maybe there’s only two types of dance – good dance and bad dance. 

Disappointing new creations in NYCB's Fall Fashion Gala, leaving Balanchine's Symphony in C as a surefire closer. 

Union Jack isn't a Balanchine masterpiece – it's more of a fun-sterpiece, which is even better.

Whatever your taste in ballet, this program probably had it: Wheeldon's DGV meets Balanchine's Door and a Sigh and Raymonda Variations. 

A sharp, well-drilled ensemble and heavenly Fauré, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky couldn't adequately compensate for the mixed bag of principal performances and the outdated look of Balanchine's Jewels at New York City Ballet.

Dutch National Ballet continues its series honouring the great choreographer. 

The Bolshoi are beautiful but uncertain dancers of Balanchine in Brisbane.

The Firebird/A Month in the Country/Symphony in C is an effective and enjoyable programme to close The Royal Ballet's season.

A finale to Pacific Northwest’s Ballet’s 2018-1019 season sends the audience home with memories of satisfying new work, appreciation of the old, and shaken to the core by a Limón performance.

Yet the audience loved it, just as they love every performance of A Midsummer's Night DreamI've ever attended. This ballet is a tribute to Shakespeare, a tribute to love, a tribute to dance. One walks out feeling as if one's "soul is in the sky."

The ending of Stars and Stripesis a sure-fire applause machine. The lowering of the flag while all the regiments march and salute onstage is so corny that only Balanchine could have choreographed it with a straight face. And yet it worked in 1958 and it works in 2019. 

Ballets live and die by their scores – as Balanchine knew when he kept returning to Stravinsky. His Symphony in Three Movements will live forever, as will Justin Peck's The Times are Racing, to Dan Deacon's America.

Modern dance choreographer Pam Tanowitz' first commission for New York City Ballet proved unruly yet fascinating, sandwiched between George Balanchine's enduring Valse-Fantaisie and Western Symphony.

Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle at the top of their game in Diamonds. A smoking performance from Sara Mearns in Slaughter on 10th Avenue. Strong debuts from Emma Von Enck and Taylor Stanley and a memorable classical turn by Aaron Sanz in the Barber.

An imperfect performance, but after Tanowitz's muddled Bartók, Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Suite no. 3 was like balm.

A very fine performance, notable for the musicality which imbued each dancer’s presence and the excellent acting which kept the audience glued to the story.

A well-curated gala with gravitas; showcasing several works and dancers rarely, if ever, seen in London.

An all-Balanchine program that is remarkably energetic and free at New York City Ballet

Among the standouts at the San Francisco Ballet gala evening performance were Ana Sophia Scheller in Rubies, Sasha De Sola in Études, Benjamin Freemantle in Agon, and Misa Kuranaga and Angelo Greco in Handel-A Celebration.

Audio and film permeate Marriott's new work for The Royal Ballet, recounting the tale of Ted Feltham, a British Soldier uuring World War 1, and his fiancée, Florence Billington. 

Pennsylvania Ballet's wraps up season with Balanchine

It was worth the price of admission just to see the ebullient revival of Geoffrey Holder’s Dougla.

Pennsylvania Ballet shows off in works by Balanchine, Petipa, and Wheeldon

From the ethereal to the galavanting, the program offered a spectrun of emotions delivered with precise technique and abandoned energy. 

Judging by this show, New York City Ballet is doing fine in the aftermath of Peter Martins’s departure.

San Francisco Ballet gives a rousing account of Justin Peck's ground-breaking Rodeo, newcomers Ana Sophia Scheller and Ulrik Birkkjær make waves, and Carlo DiLanno wins my vote for MVP at this season's gala. 

A double bill that focuses on the purity of classical ballet form, in a fine combined 70th Anniversary celebration, excellently performed by Hungarian National Ballet.  

BalletNOW returns to the Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center in Los Angeles. The production features dancers from six different major ballet companies, but fails to impress.

Being able to see all these dancers together was a rare opportunity to compare how differently they work and what each of them brings to classical ballet that is unique to them.

As dance experiences go, this one was hard to beat.

When you add it all up, this was a perfect closing show. It wasn’t without flaws but they were minor and the good far outweighed the bad.

Virtuosity commanded the stage in the first half, drama and mood in the second, with Liam Scarlett’s new ballet a fitting tribute to the retiring Zenaida Yanowsky

The Scala Ballet performs a daring triple bill this Spring, showcasing young Italian choreographers alongside one of Balanchine's masterpieces, Symphony in C.