Ohio Contemporary Ballet Celebrates Visionary Choreographer Heinz Poll’s Legacy in Program at Akron’s EJ Thomas Hall [PREVIEW]

By Steve Sucato It’s been 19 years since former Ohio Ballet co-founder and choreographer Heinz Poll died at age 80 from kidney disease. Since then, Ohio Contemporary Ballet (formerly Verb Ballets) has been the primary force behind keeping Poll’s legacy and his ballets alive. The company has several of Poll’s ballets in its repertoire that are performed regularly.  This Friday, April 25, at E.J. Thomas … Continue reading Ohio Contemporary Ballet Celebrates Visionary Choreographer Heinz Poll’s Legacy in Program at Akron’s EJ Thomas Hall [PREVIEW]

Murder, Reckoning, and an A Cappella Choir: CPT’s DanceWorks 2025 Presents Five Weeks of Evocative Dance [PREVIEW]

By Steve Sucato  The 21st iteration of Cleveland Public Theatre’s DanceWorks series — the longest-running annual dance series of its kind in the region — will treat audiences to five weeks worth of eclectic dance and dance theatre works, running every Thursday through Saturday evenings, April 17 – May 17, 2025, at CPT’s James Levin Theatre.   This year’s line-up of local dance artists will include … Continue reading Murder, Reckoning, and an A Cappella Choir: CPT’s DanceWorks 2025 Presents Five Weeks of Evocative Dance [PREVIEW]

LINES Ballet’s Deep River Plumbs the Depths of Humanity’s Relationship with Darkness and Light [REVIEW]

Alonzo King LINES Ballet – Deep RiverMimi Ohio Theatre at Playhouse SquareCleveland, OhioMarch 11, 2023 By Steve Sucato Physical beauty intertwined with the spiritual in Alonzo King LINES Ballet’s Deep River this past Saturday night at the Mimi Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square. Choreographed by company Artistic Director Alonzo King in 2022 for the San Francisco-based contemporary dance company’s 40th anniversary season, Deep River was … Continue reading LINES Ballet’s Deep River Plumbs the Depths of Humanity’s Relationship with Darkness and Light [REVIEW]

Dickinson’s ‘KL3668′ Highlights Verb Ballets’ Engaging ‘NeoClassical Lines’ Program [REVIEW – Arts Air]

Verb BalletsNeoClassical Lines – ACCESS/Verb LivestreamOctober 9, 2020 Reviewed by Steve Sucato Founded in 1987 as The Repertory Project and changing its name (and vision) in 2003, Verb Ballets has had a history of reinvention and adaptation. Keeping with the latter, Verb was one of the first Northeast, Ohio dance troupes to fully embrace virtual performance programming because of the global pandemic. Rather than going the dance film … Continue reading Dickinson’s ‘KL3668′ Highlights Verb Ballets’ Engaging ‘NeoClassical Lines’ Program [REVIEW – Arts Air]

BalletMet Columbus and Cincinnati Ballet Collaborate on Stellar Program

BalletMet Columbus & Cincinnati Ballet – Symphony in C Ohio Theatre – Columbus, Ohio March 22, 2014 Reviewed by Steve Sucato A historic collaboration between two of Ohio’s top ballet companies, BalletMet Columbus and Cincinnati Ballet in the program Symphony in C at Columbus’ Ohio Theatre was not only an audience-pleasing triumph, but was perhaps a harbinger of the quality programming fledgling artistic director Edwaard Liang … Continue reading BalletMet Columbus and Cincinnati Ballet Collaborate on Stellar Program

Kudelka’s ‘The Rite of Spring’ Lustful Mayhem

BalletMet Columbus – The Rite of Spring Ohio Theatre – Columbus, OH March 23, 2013 Reviewed by Steve Sucato It must have felt like deja vu for James Kudelka. The former artistic director and chief choreographer of the National Ballet of Canada hadn’t worn both those hats together since 2005. This season he did that again but to a lesser extent for BalletMet Columbus, where … Continue reading Kudelka’s ‘The Rite of Spring’ Lustful Mayhem