By Steve Sucato 2025 was a year of experimentation for me as a professional dance writer/reviewer. I launched a monthly Airings digest on my website, artsair.art, featuring select dance news, performance impressions, and upcoming event listings, and expanded my arts coverage to include more non-dance events. So, why not end the year with one more experiment, compiling best-of-2025 lists from the dance productions and dancer … Continue reading BEST OF 2025
PerformanceGrand Rapids Ballet: “Diablo Rojo” by James Sofranko, “While Away“ by Jennifer Archibald, “Sherlock” by Penny Saunders PlacePeter Martin Wege Theatre, Grand Rapids, Michigan, October 24, 2025 WordsSteve Sucato for Fjord Review Move over, Matthew Bourne, there is a new voice in theatrical dance plays. Choreographer Penny Saunders’ bespoke production of “Sherlock,” performed by Grand Rapids Ballet, was not only a triumph in bringing literature’s favorite … Continue reading The Game is On [REVIEW]
A monthly digest of select dance news and performance impressions, primarily from the regions I cover in Ohio, and parts of Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania. By Steve Sucato [NEWS AND NOTES] Michigan Arts Funding is at Risk — We Need Your VoiceThe Michigan House of Representatives has passed a budget that eliminates all arts and cultural funding. This isn’t just about numbers on a … Continue reading Airings: August 2025
A monthly digest of select dance news and performance impressions, primarily from the regions I cover in Ohio, and parts of Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania. By Steve Sucato [NEWS AND NOTES] Ohio Contemporary Ballet welcomes three new dancers for the 2025-26 season. They are Dallas-native Joseph Dang, who was with Sacramento Ballet, Sophia Gray, who grew up in Cincinnati and recently graduated from The … Continue reading Airings: July 2025
A monthly digest of select dance news and performance impressions, primarily from the regions I cover in Ohio, and parts of Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania. By Steve Sucato Welcome to my first Airings monthly digest. I see a lot of dance and receive a lot of news that I cannot always write separate articles or reviews about. This monthly digest is my way of … Continue reading Airings: May 2025
By Steve Sucato for Dance International Magazine The crown jewel in Grand Rapids Ballet’s 50th anniversary season, artistic director James Sofranko’s Romeo and Juliet, was decidedly a traditional classical ballet take on Shakespeare’s famous tale. The three-act production plus epilogue, the first full-length story ballet the former San Francisco Ballet soloist has choreographed, premiered on February 17 at home in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the DeVos Performance Hall. … Continue reading Grand Rapids’ Romeo & Juliet: James Sofranko’s first full-length story ballet [REVIEW]
By Steve Sucato and Jessica MeldrumMichigan’s lone professional ballet company, continues its 50th Anniversary Celebration with Christopher Stowell’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, April 22-24 and April 29-May 1 at the Peter Martin Wege Theatre as well as online, May 3 as part of GRB’s 2021-2022 virtual season offerings. The production also features George Balanchine’s timeless masterwork, Serenade. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of William Shakespeare’s most … Continue reading Grand Rapids Ballet’s 50th Anniversary Celebration Continues with Stowell’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Balanchine’s “Serenade”
Grand Rapids BalletOff the CanvasDigital Stage ProductionOctober 17-31, 2021 By Steve Sucato The opening production in Grand Rapids Ballet’s 2021-2022 virtual season, Off the Canvas, was a filmed version of the triple bill presented live by the company, October 15-17 & 22 at their Peter Martin Wege Theatre. In partnership with SALT Creative Production Studio, the productions featuring the works of three contemporaries of GRB artistic … Continue reading Dance and Visual Art Combine Superbly in Grand Rapids Ballet’s Season Opener [REVIEW]
By Steve Sucato As the world gets used to the global pandemic imposed new normal, Grand Rapids Ballet is forging ahead with its new 2020-21 dance season entitled Moving Beyond and the new realities on how to deliver that season to an audience. Third-year artistic director James Sofranko says because of the pandemic Grand Rapids Ballet has had to turn away from live in-person performance … Continue reading Grand Rapids Ballet’s Adventurous Dance Season to Reflect New Norm in the Dance World
By Steve Sucato Welcome to dance’s new reality. The COVID-19 global pandemic has spawned many changes in our lives including how dance is being created, shown, viewed and now reviewed. It is in some ways as if the familiar dance-on-film genre had suddenly become the performance medium of choice for dancers and dancemakers to create and stage works and audiences to view it. For the … Continue reading Grand Rapids Ballet’s ‘Virtual Program II: An Evening with Penny Saunders’ Shows the Beginnings of a Programming Way Forward |REVIEW
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