Ballet

On Scene at OU: Oklahoma Festival Ballet, from early Balanchine to Yanowsky’s ‘Train of Thought,’ a tribute to Hope — Stellar musicians and vocals featured on program

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By Glenda Rice Collins

Norman, Okla., USA — A uniquely fulfilling opportunity to compare the early works of both New York City Ballet choreographic icons George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins continues on stage at the Donald W. Reynolds Performing Arts Center this weekend at the University of Oklahoma, with final Oklahoma Festival Ballet performances at 8 P.M. April 7, and 3 p.m., Saturday, April 8. Performances will be held in the Elsie C. Brackett Theatre, 563 Elm Ave., on the OU Norman campus.

This production, like a breath of springtime, is suitable for all audiences.

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Bountiful Ballet Footnotes Unmasked, Part 1: Tulsa Ballet Revives ‘Tchaikovsky: The Man Behind the Music’ this weekend

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By Glenda Rice Collins

Tulsa, Okla., USA – Just three years ago, in March 2020, as the COVID 19 pandemic lockdown went into full effect, Tulsa Ballet employees geared up to make and widely share much-needed health-protective (and scarce) masks made from humanitarian efforts in their costume department.

Now, following recently dazzling 2022-23 season world premieres of unmasked, seductive Carmen and elaborately-staged Cinderella productions, Tulsa Ballet artistic director Marcello Angelini brings us Ma Cong‘s poignant and beautiful masterpiece, Tchaikovsky, the Man Behind the Music, March 23-26 at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.

Cong’s brilliant-tribute ballet made its World Premiere just four years ago on March 29, 2019 here. the performance then called “…simply, a triumph,” by the Tulsa World, just a year before the pandemic lockdown. Creative genius now prevails once again!

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Ballet: Where Have all the Tutus Gone?

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By Glenda Rice Collins

Oklahoma City, Okla., USA – Oklahoma City Ballet’s recent Future Voices choreographic showcase world premieres responded to familiar pop music history, as well as the classics, for inspiration.

The short, dramatic works were inspired by such themes as: sudden death, Analog Form, and jukebox memories, all in contemporary mode, up-close and personal in the same studio where they rehearse – the Inasmuch Foundation Theater at their home base. –Has spare costuming created a ‘tutu dilemma?’ 

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Oklahoma City Ballet, at 50, spins ‘Future Voices’ this week at Inasmuch Theatre

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By Glenda Rice Collins

Oklahoma City, Okla., USA — Oklahoma City Ballet’s upcoming Future Voices public performances, March 17-20, 2022, will showcase inspired new work from talented young choreographers, “up close” in the 190-seat Inasmuch Foundation Theater at the Susan E. Brackett Dance Center, the company’s architecturally-noteworthy Classen Blvd. headquarters.

The showcased new works provide a transitional program in which to reflect on recent contemporary ballet premieres, current company progress, and preparations to contrast and celebrate a few iconic classics soon across Oklahoma this spring. —A Unique Opportunity for Choreographic Study continues! Continue reading →

Courting Death: From Lorca’s Blood Wedding drama to Mills’ Romeo & Juliet ballet

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By Glenda Rice Collins      (Updated 2-20-20)

Oklahoma City, Okla. USA — From the recent production of Federico Garcia Lorca’s Spanish classic, Blood Wedding, at the University of Oklahoma (OU) arts district in Norman –(see a related 2-13-20 article, Renegades…, on this website) –to last weekend’s Oklahoma City Ballet staging of William Shakespeare’s tragic Romeo & Juliet love story at Civic Center Music Hall, reminders loom forth of the fragility of life, and how frequently death is courted as the permanent solution to a temporary situation. Continue reading →

Dance in 2020: Consider the Culture; The medium is the massage

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By Glenda Rice Collins, Updated 1-3-20

Bartlesville, Okla., USA — As media and culture analyst, author Marshall McLuhan said decades ago, “The medium is the massage…it does something to people. It takes hold of them. It rubs them off, it massages them and bumps them around, chiropractically, as it were…The poet, the artist, the sleuth – whoever sharpens our perception tends to be antisocial; rarely “well-adjusted,” he cannot go along with currents and trends…There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening.”  Continue reading →

Review: Tulsa Ballet Dazzles with Strictly Gershwin U.S. Premiere & More

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By Glenda Rice Collins     Updated 2-14-18  

TULSA, Okla.  USA — This past weekend’s North American premiere of Derek Deane’s Strictly Gershwin ballet extravaganza, presented by Tulsa Ballet, proved to be a fitting and well-received  homage to the genius and versatility of  American composer George Gershwin and the staying-power of his music.    Continue reading →

‘The Garden’ ballet premieres at OU to music by professor Michael Lee

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News from the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts

NORMAN, Okla., USA–The University of Oklahoma Schools of Dance and Music will present, in collaboration,  the world premiere of The Garden, at 8 p.m. March 9 in Sharp Concert Hall of Catlett Music Center, 500 W. Boyd St., on the OU Norman campus. This special event is complimentary to the public.   Continue reading →

Review: Tulsa Ballet world premiere brings hi-tech aura to ‘OZ’ themes

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By Glenda Rice Collins

TULSA, Okla. USA–The world premiere of Edwaard Liang’s glittering Dorothy and the Prince of Oz ballet last week brought Broadway theatrics to the staging of sophisticated ballet with contemporary choreography extraordinaire. Liang’s masterful authority over details  presided  during  the February 10 debut at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.     Continue reading →

Tulsa Ballet world premiere takes flight this weekend

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TULSA, Okla. USA–The world premiere of celebrated American choreographer Edwaard Liang‘s Dorothy and the Prince of Oz debuts this weekend, February 10-12, 2017 at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, as the distinguished, internationally-acclaimed Tulsa Ballet continues the celebration of its 2016-17 Diamond Anniversary season.   Continue reading →