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 [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

How The Nutcracker became the most popular ballet in the world – and a holiday colossus

By Clémence Michallon (The Independent, United Kingdom) It’s Christmas Eve. A girl is given a wooden nutcracker. She falls asleep; suddenly, she’s transported into another world, where toys are as tall as humans, mice rebel against their king, and flowers are free to waltz. Every December, the story gets told anew: At dance companies around the world, Nutcracker season whirls in. The Nutcracker is one of the most popular … Continue reading How The Nutcracker became the most popular ballet in the world – and a holiday colossus

Cleveland Ballet’s ‘Swan Lake’ Looks To Be Its Best Yet [PREVIEW]

By Steve Sucato When Gladisa Guadalupe’s reconstituted Cleveland Ballet emerged on Northeast, Ohio’s dance scene in 2014, it was a fledgling professional ballet company with modest expectations. Now entering its 8th season, with an ever-improving roster of dancers, a growing budget nearing 3 million dollars, and much of the other trappings of a proper ballet organization, expectations are much higher as the troupe has taken … Continue reading Cleveland Ballet’s ‘Swan Lake’ Looks To Be Its Best Yet [PREVIEW]