Dance

Alonzo King's new evening-length work Constellation takes his Lines Dance Company ballerinas off-pointe and away from the naturalistic environment of last year’s stunning Resin.

British choreographer Russell Maliphant's evening-length After Light, a meditation on the artistry and influence of Vaslav Nijinsky, touches on Nijinsky’s role as one of classical ballet’s greatest dancers, as well as the breakaway invention of his hotly controversial Afternoon of a Faun.

Akram Khan, who credits his international brigade of dancers as collaborators, draws inspiration from Sufism and the Persian poet and mystic Rumi.

The Kirov Ballet, based in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), has reverted to calling itself the Mariinsky Ballet, but its Swan Lake, choreographed in 1950 by Konstantin Sergeyev and based, of course, on the 1895 Petipa/Ivanov version, prevails, uninterrupted by the vagaries of history.

Mardi Gras, Nubian arabesques, garden insects, enchantments: All great subjects for evocative works of orchestral wizardry at the S.F. Symphony, deftly conducted by Stéphane Denève and superbly performed.

In “Story/Time” Bill T. Jones uses chance, dance, music, and narrative to make every minute count.

A premier string quartet again takes top honors with works by Janáček, Debussy, and Britten.

“Body music is the oldest music,” says International Body Music Festival (IBMF) Founder Keith Terry. His fourth annual festival, features six days filled with over 20 presentations of traditional and contemporary Body Music styles from all over the world.

Resin — a stunning new ballet created for the Alonzo King LINES Ballet — is a cohesive suite of dances that is continuously spellbinding with dancers who are glorious interpreters and enhancers of rhythm and melody.

Mark Morris' Dido and Aeneas was a treat for both eye and ear in its return to Cal Performances Friday night in Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall. And the star of the performance was Morris.