Dance Review

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater always offers exquisitely danced performances, teeming with powerful athleticism and pungent passion. Its Dec. 16 performance was no exception.

The Hard Nut

Choreographed in 1991 by Mark Morris and being presented in New York for the first time since 2002, "The Hard Nut," performed by Mark Morris Dance Group, is as tickling as ever.

Lar Lubovitch Dance Company

Masterfully crafted, ingeniously musical, naturally lyrical, and bubbling with pleasing body shapes and effervescent motion, Lar Lubovitch's choreography is the pink champagne of modern dance.

Complexions Contemporary Ballet

An entire evening of Dwight Rhoden's choreography is exhaustingly monotonous. The dances feel like chains of unmotivated tasks, which all become a wearisome waste of energy.

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet

All 15 members of the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet are such phenomenal dancers that, when watching the company perform, one is so awestruck by how good they are that it is difficult to focus on any other aspects of the show.

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake

This updated contemporary-dance version of the 19th-century ballet classic is rich in serious emotional content and sharp satirical detail, making for powerful, hard-edged theater.

New York City Ballet

For its first-ever fall season at Lincoln Center, New York City Ballet is offering four weeks of mixed bills that are giving audiences a chance to catch up with some of the new ballets.

Batsheva Dance Company: Project 5

Artistic director of Israel's Batsheva Dance Company, Ohad Naharin is the most consistently enthralling choreographer on today's contemporary dance scene.

Kate Weare Company and Monica Bill Barnes & Company

Choreographers Kate Weare and Monica Bill Barnes electrified a standing-room-only crowd at the Joyce Theater with their shared evening of two superb contemporary dance works.

Anikai Dance/Wendy Jehlen: Forest

As long as she is introducing new material, Wendy Jehlen is a captivating choreographer, but when it comes time to develop her thematic vocabulary into compelling choreography, she is at a complete loss.