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Following are links to some recently published articles and performance reviews, as well as Pennsylvania Ballet's Critical Dance Forum, to which we invite our audience members to contribute.
Reviews & Articles
Pennsylvania Ballet's Critical Dance Forum
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Review Excerpts
Messiah
“Pennsylvania Ballet presented its largest and most ambitious production in memory, and it looked glorious on the talented Philadelphia company. The Philadelphia Kantorei is a marvelous fit for this work and for the orchestra conducted by Beatrice Jona Affron; both sound energized and well-rehearsed …mezzo Emily Langford Johnson notably imparted the gravitas of the biblical story.”
Merilyn Jackson
The Philadelphia Inquirer
“A work of stunning simplicity. It actually wasn’t necessary to know the story to be moved by this gorgeous ballet. ”
Janet Anderson
Philadelphia City Paper
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker
“Explodes with vital energy… a visual fantasy…this ‘Nutcracker’ shows off the Pennsylvania Ballet at its finest.”
Robert Baxter
Courier-Post
“The classic receives a bright new facelift that will maintain its freshness for many years to come.”
Lindsay Warner
The Bulletin
“Speaking of those Snowflakes – otherwise known as the women’s corps de ballet – they’re absolutely glittering this year. Unison was tight, jumps were light and the pacing was first-rate.”
Lew Whittington
Broad Street Review
“Pa. Ballet’s dressed up ‘Nutcracker’ dazzles”
Ellen Dunkel
The Philadelphia Inquirer
City Center
"Under the direction of Roy Kaiser, [the Company] has remained true to its origins as a home for classically trained dancers with individual looks and presences, and for odd choreographic experimentation to complement its Balanchine repertory."
Jennifer Dunning
The New York Times
"It had an enchanting freshness, quite different from the sleek eloquence we get nowadays from New York City Ballet."
Clive Barnes
New York Post
Company B
“This season’s opening ballet performance speaks of a fresh exuberance to come. Vitality runs through this varied performance like a current… leaving you humming snatches from songs from the ‘40s, even while you remember the stark grace of Mr. Balanchine, or the frenzied intensity of Mr. Neenan, eventually resolving into metered beauty.”
Lindsay Warner
The Bulletin
Giselle
“Giselle is one of the great Romantic ballets and a notoriously difficult one to dance. But Pennsylvania ballet rose to the occasion.”
Ellen Dunkel
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Carmina Burana
“Pennsylvania Ballet unleashed a triumph with its world premiere of a steamy, explosive new Carmina Burana.”
Ellen Dunkel
The Philadelphia Inquirer
“It cannot be denied that Neenan’s Carmina Burana was magnificently danced – the Company has never looked better, from principals through soloists to corps.”
Michael Caruso
News of Delaware County
"This pageant must been seen to be believed. Neenan glories in the chance to reveal the bright innards of a work usually swathed in darkness."
Elizabeth Zimmer
Metro
Swan Lake
“Under Roy Kaiser’s artistic direction, the Pennsylvania ballet has risen to the occasion of Mr. Wheeldon’s technical demands.”
Anna Kisselgoff
The New York Times
“The dancers…ran with the gift that Wheeldon made for them and, dare we say, left memories of Swan Lakes past in the dust.”
Merilyn Jackson
The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Wheeldon has freshened the choreography throughout…But he has done it so seamlessly that those who are intimately familiar with the ballet won’t be offended, and those who aren’t won’t know the difference.”
Molly Glentzer
Houston Chronicle
“Rather than being in any way melodramatic or pat, [Wheeldon’s] rendition of Swan Lake is multi-layered and dynamic theater.
Lisa Kraus
Dance Insider
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