The Sacramento Ballet is giving local audiences a rare opportunity to experience some of the work of the greatest choreographer of the 20th century: George Balanchine. "Genius" is the first all-Balanchine program ever performed by the troupe here (although it did present such a program when it was invited to perform in the People's Republic of  China in 2007).  Excerpts from six dances created between 1941 and 1964 are on the program, which will be presented at 2 p.m. today, 7 p.m. next Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. April 29 at the Ballet Company's Studio at 17th and K streets. Each program contains the same six dances but the order of performance and the featured dancers changes from sh

Photographs by Barry Wisdom   Whether you’re continuing a lifelong Christmastime tradition or you’re a new “Black Swan” fan who’s come late to the ballet-appreciation party, there is something for everyone in Sacramento Ballet’s alternatingly funny and passionate, but always mesmerizing and magical “The Nutcracker,” which opened Friday evening at the Sacramento Community Center Theater. Blessed with live accompaniment of Tchaikovsky’s familiar score by the spectacular Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, there is much that can be considered divine about this delicious holiday chestnut. In addition to philharmonic director Henrik Jul Hansen’s sure baton, reasons to leap for joy include Sa

Take an iconic piece of american musical theater by arguably the best musical theater writing team of all times and add Music Circus talent and production values and you have a splendid evening of entertainment. "Oklahoma" was the first collaboration between composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. Rodgers had previously worked with Lorenz Hart creating "Pal Joey." Hammerstein had been teamed with Jerome Kern, with "Show Boat" as their best-known production. The new collaboration worked well for both. Hammerstein preferred to write lyrics before they were set to music. Rodgers preferred to have completed lyrics before creating the music. There previous co