Kidd Pivot known from 2010 to 2012 as Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM, is a contemporary dance company based in Vancouver, Canada. The company, currently comprising eight full-time dancers and several guest dancers, is led by its founder and artistic director, Crystal Pite.

Ate9 dANCEcOMPANY is a Los Angeles based company founded by Danielle Agami who comes from Batsheva Dance Company.  Agami was a member of the company for 8 years then served as Rehearsal Director for two years and has staged many of Ohad Naharin's works around the world.

Lucy Guerin Inc is an Australian dance company established in Melbourne in 2002 to create and tour new dance works. Renowned for the skill and originality of its small group of performers, it is a flexible organisation dedicated to challenging and extending the art of contemporary dance.   Here's a picture from Weather.  I saw this performance at UCLA and OMG.  Amaze.  Check-em out if they're ever in your neck of the woods.  Photo credit Heidrun Lohr

Wayne McGregor | Random Dance was founded in 1992 and became the instrument upon which McGregor evolved his fast and articulate choreographic style. With collaboration at the centre of his practice, McGregor has innovated new work with world class artists including composers Scanner, Jon Hopkins and Ben Frost; visual artists Mark Wallinger and rAndom International; and film-makers Jane and Louise Wilson and Ravi Deepres. Collaboration with science and technology communities has also fuelled choreography mined from radical cognitive research processes.  Wayne McGregor | Random Dance is Resident Company of Sadler's Wells, London. Wayne McGregor is Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet. In January 2011, McGregor was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for Services to Dance.  Photo Credit Ravi Deepres

Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson’s lifelong appreciation for the artistic & aesthetic appeal of the multicultural forms the cornerstone of Complexions Contemporary Ballet’s singular approach to reinventing dance. Founded in 1994, Complexions’ groundbreaking mix of methods, styles, cultures has created an entirely new and exciting vision of human movement over the past 18 years.  Photo Credit Jae Man Joo.

BODYTRAFFIC is a non-profit repertory dance company that lives, breathes, and thrives in Los Angeles. The company relentlessly recruits great talent from around the globe to create world-class contemporary dance in Los Angeles. BODYTRAFFIC's growing repertory of work is inspiring, accessible, and challenging to both new audiences and experienced enthusiasts. Born from the sheer love of dance, BODYTRAFFIC's spirited environment is blossoming because of its dedication, passion, and exquisite talent.

Marina Magalhães is a Brazilian-born dancer, choreographer, dance/yoga teacher and community arts practitioner based in LA. Magalhães's choreography for the dance concert stage draws from her unique background in Afro-Latin and Contemporary dance practices to create a dance theater grounded in subversive politics and deeply personal story-telling.

On Saturday, February 9th I had the opportunity to see the Hamburg Ballet perform the Little Mermaid in Costa Mesa at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.  What a huge dance venue they have there - 3,000 seats! The sets and costumes were amazing.  Choreography, Scenic, Costume and Lighting Design was all by John Neumeier.  What an American Treasure he is to the dance world.  

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater grew from a now-fabled performance in March 1958 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Led by Alvin Ailey and a group of young African-American modern dancers, that performance changed forever the perception of American dance.  Today, the Company continues Mr. Ailey's mission by presenting important works of the past and commissioning new ones.

Pilobolus is a modern performance company, founded in 1971, that to this day wears its revolutionary stripes on its sleeves. In keeping with its fundamentally collective creative process, Pilobolus Dance Theatre now curates and convenes groups of diverse artists---including the MIT Distributed Robotics Laboratory, Art Spiegelman, OK Go, Radiolab, and many others.  

When Nacho Duato was at the helm, I began my love of Compania Nacional de Danza from Madrid.  I will never get tired of Jardi Tancat.  Kudos to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts for bringing this amazing company.

This is a great company.  I first saw them at an International Association of Blacks in Dance conference.  The mission of Evidence is to promote understanding of the human experience in the African Diaspora through dance and storytelling and to provide sensory connections to history and tradition through music, movement, and spoken word, leading deeper into issues of spirituality, community responsibility and liberation.

Black Grace is New Zealand’s leading contemporary dance company and has held a unique position on the world stage for over 17 years. Fusing Pacific and contemporary dance in an extraordinary and dynamic form, Black Grace has become internationally renowned for its artistry, creative excellence and innovation, while also becoming the world’s leading exponent of Pacific contemporary dance.

Mark Morris Dance Group was formed in 1980 and gave its first concert that year in New York City. The company’s touring schedule steadily expanded to include cities both in the U.S. and in Europe, and in 1986 it made its first national television program for the PBS series Dance in America. In 1988, MMDG was invited to become the national dance company of Belgium, and spent three years in residence at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. The company returned to the United States in 1991 as one of the world’s leading dance companies, performing across the U.S. and at major international festivals.

 NDT

Traces is poetic and explosive, humorous and thoughtful. Combining traditional acrobatic forms with street elements such as skateboarding and basketball, mixed in with some theatre and contemporary dance, it surprises, awes and delights at every turn.

Here's an image of Hofesh Shechter Company.  This is an amazing dance company out of the United Kingdom.  I had the opportunity to see them at Royce Hall at UCLA.  Political Mother - an amazing and timely piece of work.  Kudos!

This weekend I saw the Joffrey Ballet at the Music Center.  They performed amazing works by Liang, Forsythe and Nijinsky.  It was refreshing to hear Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring or (Le Sacre Du Printems) live.  

And what really excited me this weekend -  I realized that Igor Stravinsky composed many dance scores here in the Los Angeles area for quite some time throughout his life.

Here's a link to the Los Angels Times Review.  Enjoy !