'Romeo,' Russians & Rep

Dance

By JOEL LOBENTHAL
March 19, 2008

The lilacs are perfuming, the breeze is wafting — and you want to be in a dark theater watching dance? Yes, you do — at least some of the time. Going to see dance puts nature's vernal abundance into perspective.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Antony Tudor, whose ballets are among the greatest of the 20th century. Tudor, who died in 1987, will be celebrated March 29 and 30 in an event at the Juilliard School that will include studio workshop demonstrations and two panel discussions, moderated by Clive Barnes and featuring both scholars and former colleagues of Tudor. Tudor taught at Julliard for 20 years, and Dance Division's spring concerts, March 26–30, will include Tudor's "Dark Elegies."

On Tudor's birthday, April 4, New York Theatre Ballet commemorates his centennial, as well as that of José Limón, by repeating at the Florence Gould Hall the program it showed last February: Tudor's "Jardin aux Lilas," "Little Improvisations," and "Judgment of Paris," as well as a revival of Limón's "Mazurkas." A bonus will be the bedroom duet from Tudor's "Romeo and Juliet," which has not been performed professionally in 30 years.

On April 11 and 12, NYTB returns with a new mixed bill that includes Tudor's rarely seen "Fandango" and "Les Mains Gauches," as well as a repeat of "Romeo and Juliet," along with the premiere of a new ballet by Matthew Neenan and William Dollar's rarely seen "The Combat," dating from 1949, which was a staple of American Ballet Theatre's repertory during the 1950s.

On April 1, St. Petersburg's Kirov Ballet arrives at City Center for its first New York season in six years. Its repertory during the three-week season includes one-act ballets and excerpted acts from full-length ballets by Marius Petipa, Michel Fokine, and George Balanchine, as well as a program devoted to the ballets of William Forsythe, which entered the Kirov repertory in 2004. A night before the City Center opening, members of the Kirov will perform at the Guggenheim Museum as part of its Works and Process series.

On April 21, the Youth America Grand Prix gala allows award-winning students to share the stage with ballet celebrities at City Center. April 25–27, London-based choreographer Akram Khan returns to New York, bringing a nine-member company to City Center in a collaborative effort with the National Ballet of China.

This year, New York City Ballet's spring season at the New York State Theatre might be called "Jerome Robbins 24/7." Robbins's association with NYCB as dancer and choreographer began in 1949 and ended with his death in 1998. But his repertory lives on in a vigorous way. To honor what would be his 90th birthday, there will be revivals of 1972's "Watermill," 1974's "Four Bagatelles," and 1976's "Other Dances," and a restaging of Robbins's "Les Noces," which he created for American Ballet Theatre in 1965. In addition, NYCB will be showing a new ballet by Alexei Ratmansky, which premieres May 29. Principal dancer Damian Woetzel gives his farewell performance on June 18.

American Ballet Theatre's annual season at the Metropolitan Opera gets under way with a gala — program not yet announced — on May 19. The following eight weeks are primarily devoted to full-length favorites, from the first week's "Le Corsaire" to the final week's "Giselle." For seven performances beginning June 3, there's a repertory program consisting of a revival of Harald Lander's "Etudes," paired with a new ballet by Twyla Tharp that has been co-commissioned with the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Ms. Tharp is using a commissioned score by Danny Elfman, who has frequently composed film scores for Tim Burton.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music's annual DanceAfrica season takes place May 23–26. In honor of the 125th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge, DanceAfrica has programmed appearances by troupes based as far afield as West Africa and as close to home as BAM's back door.

June 3-8, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to BAM for its first appearance there in 25 years. At its home base across the East River, the relatively downtown Joyce Theater gets more downtown with the return of Stephen Petronio's eponymous troupe on April 1, featuring the world premiere of two new works using music by Fischerspooner and Nico Muhly. Also among the Joyce's spring roster of companies are the Mandance project, presented by Elliot Feld's Ballet Tech, April 9–20, and Moses Pendleton's Momix, which returns May 13 for its annual four-week season of down-is-up assaults on everyday visual logic and probability.