Ballet West Tickets

The ballet was fantastic. The theater was beautiful, and the ushers were friendly and helpful.

Ballet West's choice of dance for this program was very entertaining. All dances were beautifully executed and it was great to see the dancers from Breaking Pointe live and in their element, they are SO talented. We would definitely go see Ballet West if they come to Chicago again.

Three out of five stars is NOT 'average.' Ugh. This was a good performance marred by some silly choreography and ballets. That said, of course the Balanchine ballets ('Rubies' and 'Diamonds' pas de deux) shone most brilliantly. Elizabeth McGrath as the tall girl (the soloist) in 'Rubies' was superb: athletic (her first pirouette was an *effortless* triple), sexy, and FUNNY--one of the wittiest Rubies tall girls I have ever seen. Her inflections rippled with humor and fun. Beckanne SIsk, who is on the rather cheesy reality show about BW called 'Breaking Pointe' and is being heavily pushed by the director as The Next Ballerina, is a good dancer but she was preoccupied with correctness here; her smile is sadly fixed and rigid and she does not show enough freedom, range of movement, angles, relish, or Broadway-baby sex appeal (the 'Rubies' ballerina is a showgirl.) She is VERY young and will doubtless improve. Christiana Bennett, another star on 'Breaking Pointe' and the current company prima, danced 'Diamonds' pas de deux with Beau Pearson (strong and a tactful partner.) She is clean, exact, precise, and honest in steps; she however is also cold and rather uninvolved. Balanchine ballerinas should not emote nor should they work the room, but this icy delivery is much too far in the opposite direction. The new pas de quatre to Nicolo Fonte, a current darling of the ballet world, had excellent dancers (Katherine Lawrence, the almost too handsome Tom Mattingly, Adrian Fry, and Jacqueline Straughan) dancing to u-g-l-y 'music' by Ezio Bosso, supposedly for string quartet. Even with the atrocities of modern 'string playing' this is some of the ugliest grinding and mashing I've ever encountered. The choreography was typical of what is now trendy and made-over in ballet--gymnastic, slightly outre, attempting to be showy. Lawrence appears to be a terrific and serious dancer, and I would love to see her in real choreography; Straughan has legs and line for days and seems a foot taller than her actual height on stage. All the dancers would be great in a better ballet. The Lottery, which is , god help us, to the Shirley Jackson short story, has a Big Schtick: seven couples all draw the lots to determine who the murder victim will be (the 'sacrifice' of the rite) and the dancers do not know who will dance the final (fairly taxing and difficult) solo until then, so they all must know it (there is a boys' and girls' version) and be ready to dance it at every performance. The dancer who 'won' at my performance was the young, talented demisoloist Katie Critchlow, who is an excellent dancer and on whom the female solo version was originally made. Something which occurred during her solo epitomizes what's wrong with this story as a 'ballet'--she did a difficult multiple pirouette flawlessly and the audience burst into applause. She DESERVED her applause and then some, but not in something intended to be a DANCE OF DEATH! The ballet, of course, just as do all 'problem plays' and 'issue plays' in theater, steals all its 'intensity' from the grim theme, and although the dancers again distinguish themselves it is not a successful ballet. Also, having the chosen victim scream 'it isn't fair' three times before starting the final solo is Grand Guignol in the worst possible taste. What ballet dancers do *not* do is talk. Or scream. They do everything else.

It has been tradition for my daughter and I to see The Nutcracker every year since she was 6 years old. She is a dancer and just LOVES ballet. When she saw Sleeping Beauty was coming to Chicago she made the decision to see this instead of The Nutcracker. Both of us are SO happy she did. Ballet West's performance of Sleeping Beauty was just mesmerizing. The dancers had our full attention and we were both caught up in the story, it was almost like we were on stage with them. Took me back to my childhood dreams of being a dancer myself. Thank you for such an enchanting performance and wonderful memories with my daughter. Looking forward to a return of Ballet West to Chicago in the future.

What an amazing performance--loved Rubies and the Lottery. So much fun to see the dancers I've been watching on Breaking Pointe. Very imaginative choreography, too.

The dancing and choreography were superb, the music perfectly matched to the presentation. Costuming was wonderful, and the audience was clearly entranced.

Ballet West was exciting, remarkable and an amazing experience to watch.

Absolutely BEAUTIFUL and magical dancing and costumes. I smiled the entire 2.5 hours of the show. I would love for Ballet West to return to Chicago, and I look forward to more ballet shows at Auditorium Theatre.

Having watched the TV story of this previously unknown company, I was determined to see them in person. It was a wonderful experience. The choreography, dancing, and costumes were splendid.

Absolutely Fabulous! The matinee gave me chills... SO GOOD! Ballet West is the company to watch!