Few things good ever come easily, or without stepping outside one’s comfort zone. But persistence paid off in Cincinnati Ballet’s pursuit of Peter Frampton, the Grammy-winning guitar hero with a career spanning decades.  

When someone falls in love with dance, it’s often a lifetime experience. It’s been that way for Jefferson James, founder, artistic director and CEO of Contemporary Dance Theater, today Cincinnati’s premiere presenter of a diversity of contemporary dance.
  

Partnering gets taken to the next level in Cincinnati Ballet’s Romeo & Juliet this weekend. Not only has much of the choreography changed since the company premiered this production five years ago, but the people involved have also evolved.
  

Do you know when you go to a dance concert — or any formal performance — and they ask you to turn off your phones? Well, that won’t be happening when ZviDance performs Zoom at the Aronoff Center this weekend   

As a ballet, The Nutcracker stands alone. On paper, it’s classical and traditional, yet to succeed — not to mention sell tickets — a production must offer big fun for the whole family.  

Let’s cut to the chase: Dead Can Dance is no ordinary dance show. True to form, Cincinnati-based Exhale Dance Tribe pushes a range of artistic and stylistic boundaries in this single-evening production.
  

As its name suggests, Cincinnati Ballet’s Kaplan New Works Series prides itself on moving dance forward. You can count on the company’s annual season opener to be modern-slanted, edgy even. But for the first time, all of the choreographers on the New Works bill are women.
  

It’s a rare person today who sticks to the same career path — let alone the same position — for more than a handful of years. How about four-plus decades? Enter Maestro Carmon DeLeone, Cincinnati Ballet’s music director for 43 seasons running.   

Fairy tales, however fantastical, are more than mere fluff. Try mining them for more meaning and mixing them with modern dance. This seems like the most natural thing in the world for internationally recognized choreographer/artistic director Robert Moses.  

At heart, Carmen is a sensual story of passion. Putting a daring new spin on one of the best-known and beloved stories of opera repertoire sounds like a tall order. But internationally renowned choreographer Amedeo Amodio is perfectly suited to create a contemporary-infused dance version.  

At heart, Carmen is a sensual story of passion. Putting a daring new spin on one of the best-known and beloved stories of opera repertoire sounds like a tall order. But internationally renowned choreographer Amedeo Amodio is perfectly suited to create a contemporary-infused dance version. Expect fiery dancing filled with feeling and meaning.  

Cincinnati Ballet’s The New Nutcracker is, in a word, spectacular. And I mean that in the literal sense: It’s truly a spectacle. Thursday evening’s well-attended opening night at the Aronoff Center offered an impressive smorgasbord of visual and dance delights.   

Imagine what goes into creating a brand-new production of a beloved full-length ballet, top to bottom. The time is finally here: Cincinnati Ballet’s long-awaited, eagerly anticipated The New Nutcracker premieres Thursday at the Aronoff Center.   

At heart, dance is all about expression, and Ronen “Roni” Koresh gets it. Over two decades, his jazz-infused yet modern Koresh Dance Company has earned a reputation for delivering powerhouse performances to sold-out venues nationally and abroad. For the first time in three years, the Philadelphia-based ensemble returns to the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theater this weekend, kicking off Contemporary Dance Theater’s 2011-2012 Guest Artist Series.   

For many Cincinnati area audiences, dance means classical ballet — annual Nutcracker performances or perhaps Swan Lake. But Mario de la Nuez and Meridith Benson, co-artistic directors of de la Dance Company, are trying to change all that with performance evenings like DanceCincinnati2011.