James Whiteside News

 On July 29, the Vail Dance Festival kicks off its 29th year (July 29- August 12) with a season of new collaborations, artist debuts, and world premieres.

Shirley House is excited to announce the release of a new music video— Get Lit —out today. Get Lit was filmed at the famed The McKittrick Hotel, where the band is currently performing a weekly, Friday night residency in the hotel's main concert venue, The Heath.

A bright summer sun shimmered across the Great South Bay as renowned dance companies, acclaimed choreographers and three standing-room-only audiences came together at this year's Fire Island Dance Festival on July 14-16, 2017. The 23rd edition of the fundraising and cultural event of the Fire Island summer raised a record $585,045 for Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Casting updates have been announced for The Joyce Theater Foundation's upcoming Ballet Festival, a two-week festival of ballet showcasing some of America's most exciting contemporary companies and choreographers with Joyce commissions on each program. Co-curated by Curatorial Associate John Selya, the Festival -- July 19-29 -- is designed to recognize dancers and choreographers who are creating work outside the traditional large company setting and, in many. 

To leave a permanent mark on the cultural landscape is a lifelong motivation for any artist. But for accomplished American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer James Whiteside, one medium simply can't contain his high-watt creativity. As a pop singer, choreographer, and storyteller, James seems to find inspiration wherever he goes.

James Whiteside, ballet's most daring principal artist known for his theatrical and technical versatility, will begin an extensive and varied summer tour, with seven appearances worldwide, after the close of the American Ballet Theatre's Metropolitan Opera House Season. Whiteside kicks off the summer at Fire Island Dance Festival, followed by an evening of self-choreographed work at Jacob's Pillow, performances at Joyce Theater with Gemma Bond, BALLETNOW, Vail Dance Festival and Ballet Sun Valley, and lastly a tour to Japan late summer to work with Tokyo Disney. Performances will showcase a variety of dance styles including classical ballet, contemporary ballet, modern, theater jazz and hip-hop.

Two internationally acclaimed dance companies, a celebrated choreographer and a Tony Award-winning host have just been added to the already stellar lineup of Fire Island Dance Festival, which takes the stage July 14-16, 2017, in Fire Island, NY.

The Provincetown Theater has announced a radically re-styled and re-staged version of Oscar Wilde's 'Salome' opening July 12 running through August 19. Wilde's once-banned biblical play will feature new costuming, scenic design, choreography and casting. Performances are at 7:30 Todays through Sundays July 12 through August 19.

It's always a bittersweet feeling when a company ends its season, and in the current political climate, one can never take the arts for granted. But on Friday July 7, 2017, the Metropolitan Opera House was atwitter with the promise of American Ballet Theatre's program dedicated to Tchaikovsky. Pre-show, the audience crackled with uproarious excitement, perfectly in keeping with the dazzling, multi-layered nuance to be found in the breadth of Tchaikovsky's compositions.

Casting updates have been announced for The Joyce Theater Foundation's upcoming Ballet Festival, a two-week festival of ballet showcasing some of America's most exciting contemporary companies and choreographers with Joyce commissions on each program. Co-curated by Curatorial Associate John Selya, the Festival -- July 19-29 -- is designed to recognize dancers and choreographers who are creating work outside the traditional large company setting and, in many. 

New York Live Arts, under the artistic leadership of MacArthur Genius Award and National Medal of Arts awardee Artistic Director Bill T. Jones and Associate Artistic Director Janet Wong, announced the organization's 2017-2018 season today.

A few years ago I bought a recording of Schlagobers, which had been written by the venerable Richard Strauss for the Vienna State Opera Ballet in 1924. I had a difficult time listening to the music-it didn't gel, nor did it leave any imprint on my mind. I suppose there was a reason for it not having many recordings-compare this with Rosenkavalier. I remember doing some research on this project: Strauss was serving as co-director of the Vienna State Opera with Franz Schalk and wanted to raise the prestige of the ballet wing after it had been decimated in the First World War. As a devoted admirer of Diaghilev company, for which he had once written Josephslegende, Strauss went about composing and writing his own libretto for what was to become Schlagobers, choreographed by Heinrich Kröller, who devised a mass spectacle that required 287 costumes at a cost of four billion kronnen, becoming known as the 'billionaire's ballet.' And at a time when inflation was climbing minute by minute.

New York Live Arts, under the artistic leadership of MacArthur Genius Award and National Medal of Arts awardee Artistic Director Bill T. Jones and Associate Artistic Director Janet Wong, announced the organization's 2017-2018 season today.

The Provincetown Theater has announced a radically re-styled and re-staged version of Oscar Wilde's 'Salome' opening July 12 running through August 19. Wilde's once-banned biblical play will feature new costuming, scenic design, choreography and casting. Performances are at 7:30 Wednesdays through Sundays July 12 through August 19.

American Ballet Theatre Soloist Cassandra Trenary and Principal Dancer James Whiteside will be special guests at Lincoln Center's annual Midsummer Night Swing today, June 30.

James Whiteside, ballet's most daring principal artist known for his theatrical and technical versatility, will begin an extensive and varied summer tour, with seven appearances worldwide, after the close of the American Ballet Theatre's Metropolitan Opera House Season. Whiteside kicks off the summer at Fire Island Dance Festival, followed by an evening of self-choreographed work at Jacob's Pillow, performances at Joyce Theater with Gemma Bond, BALLETNOW, Vail Dance Festival and Ballet Sun Valley, and lastly a tour to Japan late summer to work with Tokyo Disney. Performances will showcase a variety of dance styles including classical ballet, contemporary ballet, modern, theater jazz and hip-hop.

As The Music Center wraps up its 14th season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center, Angelenos have the opportunity to see some of the world's finest dancers perform a mix of iconic ballets and new pieces in The Music Center's BalletNOW.  Following the popularity of the first BalletNOW in 2015, The Music Center commissioned this highly innovative three-performance program, featuring international ballet sensation and New York City Ballet Principal Tiler Peck as curator.  Peck created a mixed repertory to highlight the versatility and athleticism of today's ballet dancers including pieces that pair classical dancers with their contemporaries in other dance genres. 

American Ballet Theatre Soloist Cassandra Trenary and Principal Dancer James Whiteside will be special guests at Lincoln Center's annual Midsummer Night Swing on Friday, June 30.

Petipa, who of the three choreographers listed in the program has the most influence on American Ballet Theatre's Le Corsaire, knows how to create a dramatic excuse for dance. With a few notable exceptions, 'Giselle' and 'Romeo and Juliet' come instantly to my mind, declarative dance which spends twenty minutes to hammer out an 'I love you' through pirouettes can be draining and leave the audience thinking 'Just spit it out.' Petipa, clearly seeing this dramatic shortcoming, forms his ballets around vast pageants, processionals, and presentations. The Black Swan seduces by exhibition at a banquet, the last glorious act of The Sleeping Beauty is a virtually plotless celebration, and practically the entire Nutcracker is a series of vignettes formed around a presentation. Le Corsaire is no different. The first act features the presentation of several ballerinas. The second act is centered around the principal dancers performing to 'entertain the group'. Then, in act three, a pasha spends a lengthy amount of time in a dream sequence which features, what else, women and flowers. Superficially, this all works wonderfully and the dancers shamelessly take this opportunity to exploit their most acrobatic technique. The piece's issues begin upon the introduction of the words 'slave girls.'

Casting for the seventh and eighth weeks of American Ballet Theatre's 2017 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.