Dancers come and go, The Hard Nut fresh as ever

Brandon Randolph, Joe Bowie and Elisa Clark in the Mark Morris Dance Group production The Hard Nut

Deepa Liegel as the Rat Queen in the Mark Morris Group production of The Hard Nut

Elisa Clark as Mrs Stahlbaum in the Mark Morris Dance Group production of The Hard Nut

Billy Smith as Drosselmeier in the Mark Morris Dance Group production of The Hard Nut

By Carla Escoda, 17 December 2024

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“flinging handfuls of fake snow on precise counts with a gleeful vehemence bordering on wrath”

Reviewed at BAM: Howard Gilman Opera House, New York City on 12 December 2024

The Hard Nut (Mark Morris)

Mark Morris Dance Group

Adrianne Lobel, Set Designer

Martin Pakledinaz, Costume Designer

James F Ingalls, Lighting Designer

Mark Morris Dance Group Music Ensemble

Billy Smith, Dancer

Mica Bernas, Dancer

Brandon Randolph, Dancer

Domingo Estrada, Dancer

Mark Morris’ luminous, whimsical Moon lands in Brooklyn

Carla Escoda, 26th March

Commissioned by Washington DC's Kennedy Center in the before-times, Mark Morris' Moon lands more ominously today than it surely did when it was conceived. But it still radiates joy.

*****

The dance is not going away party: Mark Morris’ new Northwest

Carla Escoda, 22nd July

Mark Morris Dance Group’s second week at the Joyce Theater in New York unveiled a world premiere in a mixed bill that represented a narrow range of Morris’ dazzling creativity.

***11

Mark Morris’ dance-intensive Orfeo ed Euridice returns to the Met

Susan Stempleski, 16th May

The latest revival of the company’s 2007 stylish production of Gluck’s operatic take on the Orpheus myth is enlivened with superb singing and dancing.

*****

Kansas City Ballet: Barminess in Bliss Point

Hilary Stroh, 12th May

Alexander Ekman's Cacti is the zany highlight of the evening!

*****

Visions of Classical (Re)Vision in San Francisco

Jaime Robles, 11th February

“Your love affair with ballet, your time with ballet, is short,” explains Welsh about his ballet Bespoke, “Eventually you lay down, and dance keeps moving. It’s a bittersweet thing.”

****1

At the Met, a revival of Orfeo ed Euridice

Edward Sava-Segal, 4th November

Jamie Barton's rich, mellifluous mezzo is ideal for singing Orfeo.

****1

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Carla Escoda

Born in the Philippines, Carla trained as a ballet and modern dancer with the Alice Reyes Dance Company in Manila. She has lived and worked in Asia and the U.S. and has written about the arts for Bachtrack, KQED (the northern California public media broadcaster), Dance International, dance journal/hk, the Huffington Post, Dance Europe and ballettothepeople.