Sondra Forsyth's Page

For three evenings in a row – April 26^th, 27^th, and 28^th 2012 – the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in NYC was the venue for performances that concluded this year's Youth America Grand Prix. Launched in 1999 by two former Bolshoi Ballet dancers, Larissa and Gennadi Saveliev, YAGP has mushroomed into the world’s largest student ballet scholarship competition, awarding over $250,000 annually in tuition to the leading dance schools on the…

Three years have elapsed since Ballet Hispanico founder Tina Ramirez retired and handed the director's mantle to Eduardo Vilaro.  During this spring's New York season at the Joyce, evidence of his personal stamp on the company's repertoire and overall mission was evident. A product of Alvin Ailey training, the former director of Chicago's Luna Negra Dance Theater has a decidedly contemporary bent to his artistic choices. The Hispanic music and ethos are still evident, but the works – at…

The A-list of New York City's dance community came out in full force, not to mention glam attire, for the 2012 Martha Graham Gala at City Center on the evening of March 14^th.  Guest artist Diana Vishneva was the big name draw, but the rest of the dancers more than held their own during the brief but dazzling mixed bill that featured some of Graham's greatest works. What a joy to see this company, a true artistic treasure, looking so polished and exuberant after being saved not…

Gia Kourlas, a dance critic for "The New York Times," wrote a decidedly tepid review of a recent performance of "The Peony Pavilion" by the China Jing Ling Dance Company at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. She did manage some faint praise for what she flippantly called the "trippy" lighting and the costumes that created a "psychedelic universe," which she described this way: "Even when it's tacky, it's incredible." Yet she was not impressed enough with the dancing to say much…