Washington Contemporary Ballet has relocated from its old South Tacoma studio to University Place. The move was partly for space reasons and partly to move to a better location for students, says director Ken Kaiser.

The dance studio teaches ballet, jazz, tap and flamenco to all ages.

WCB will celebrate the new digs with a grand reopening celebration from 2-6 p.m. on Sept. 10. There’ll be a tour, barbecue and a bounce house for kids. You can also register for the new season of classes. 8315 27^th St. W., University Place. 253-474-4312, www.wcbdance.org

Beneath a canopy of wild roses and columbine, the dancers of the Pacific Northwest Ballet wove an enchanting spell last weekend in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” A remount of the 1962 choreography by George Balanchine, staged for PNB 14 years ago by Francia Russell, this PNB favorite is still replete with charm, featuring a delightful children’s corps and some excellent dancing and acting from the principals to complement the fairy-tale sets and costume.

One of Balanchine’s most famous ballets, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is unusual for this Russian-born American choreographer, the lavish kind of story-ballet he mostly despised. But it’s also one of his best. The choreography combines nimble, creative vocabulary with Balanchine’s perfect eye for tableaux, which the PNB dancers executed in perfect alignment – Puck and the fairies in pyramid, Titania’s retinue laced like a cobweb across the stage, the butterflies collapsed in a heap.

Balanchine also tells this well-known Shakespeare story with clarity, and here the PNB soloists also shone. Read more »

Pacific Lutheran University students will bring a wide variety of movement styles to campus during “Dance Ensemble” this weekend.

The event, featuring Bollywood, Modern, Ballet and Step, will be in the Eastvold Auditorium on the PLU campus Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Thirteen original dance numbers will be performed by the university’s School of Arts and Communication. The ensemble is directed by Associate Professor Maureen McGill.

Read more from the press release….
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It’s always a dilemma – do you support local Tacoma ballet companies dancing “The Nutcracker” or do you make the crowded-freeway/nightmare-parking/expensive-ticket trek to the Seattle Center to see the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s highly acclaimed version with sets by Maurice Sendak? This year, I’m trying to do both.

On Saturday night I did PNB. For 23  years now our nationally-famous Seattle company has done this version, and it’s still marvellous. Thanks to the new film of “Where the Wild Things Are,” the sets by kids’ author Maurice Sendak take on a whole new look: the Stahlbaum’s pink-and-blue Rococo Christmas party where Clara gets her Nutcracker toy, the pale snow scene with lacy stage wings, Clara and the Prince’s magical boat trip (with a Wild Thing peering out from behind an island) and finally the lush palace of the Pasha where all those exotic candy dances are performed.

The dancing, too, is always excellent at PNB. Read more »

Arrgh – I messed up! If you read my recent holiday arts guide (Sunday Nov. 29) you’ve missed out knowing about one more Tacoma “Nutcracker” performance. My bad. The one I left out is from the Tacoma Performing Dance Company, led by eminent teacher Jo Emery. Here are the details:

Tacoma Performing Dance Company, “The Nutcracker”

What it is: Choreography by artistic director Jo Emery.

When: 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 12 and 19; 2 p.m. Dec. 13 and 20

Where: Stadium High School auditorium, 111 N. E St., Tacoma

Tickets: $18-$22

Information: 253-752-8530, www.tacomaperformingdance.org

When I saw “Romeo et Juliette” danced by Pacific Northwest Ballet last year, I thought – as I rarely do – this is one work I’ve simply got to see again. Apparently, I wasn’t alone: So many people came for repeat performances that PNB scheduled it again for this season, and last Saturday night they showed yet again just what a phenomenal production this is.

Partly it’s the excellent dancing, of course, but a lot of it is the sheer synchronicity of all the elements. The choreography by Jean-Christophe Maillot (originally for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo) manages to be highly …

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