Apart from the nifty red dragon that snakes through Chinese, the second-act divertissements — which include a magic lamp in Arabian and three ribbon-twirling burlesque girls as Shepherdesses — are as empty as the replica of the Palace of Horticulture in which they're set. And there's nothing in San Francisco to compare with Boston Ballet's Grandmother having a "senior moment" during the Polonaise, or the four mice's parody of Swan Lake's "Dance of the Cygnets," or Jared Redick's one-to-each-compass-point turning quartet of split jumps in Russian, or the difficulty of the straight-line choreography for Sugar Plum at the end of the Grand Pas de Deux. Even the Boston children do harder stuff. It makes you wonder why Boston Ballet's Nutcracker isn't part of Great Performances. Is there a corporate sponsor in the house?
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Scenes from the city, Not quite Nina, Tragic tropes and anti-tropes, More 
- Scenes from the city
I missed more things in two and a half days last week than I managed to take in, so whatever I might infer about dance in the New York vortex could have come out a different way if I’d reversed my priorities.
- Not quite Nina
On hearing the opening notes of the Kronos Quartet composition and seeing the dancers lit in sunny yellow, I feared we were about to be subjected to one of those “up with people” ballets.
- Tragic tropes and anti-tropes
The only question to ask about a new Romeo and Juliet, besides “Why?”, is “Why New York City Ballet?”
- Love and death
“Classic Balanchine” as opposed to . . . “Jazz Balanchine”? “Porno Balanchine”? What was the alternative?
- Dreaming and remembrance
Two momentous revivals in town showed us how big the category of classical ballet really is.
- Links to a legacy
In her Pillow Talk at Jacob’s Pillow last weekend, Suzanne Farrell was asked what she expects of the young dancers who are reviving George Balanchine’s ballets under her direction.
- State of the art
Maybe it’s the economy, but Boston Ballet’s third-annual season-opening gala was a sober evening, without the orchestral overture that graced the first two affairs.
- Smaller is better
Next fall, Boston Ballet will move all its performing operations to the Opera House from Citi Performing Arts Center's immense and unfriendly Wang Theatre.
- Adam and Eve
A day at New York City Ballet that starts with a matinee of Coppélia and ends with a Balanchine evening might seem to offer merely the contrast between classic and modern, old and new.
- Dancing ballet or not
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's Celebrity Series program at the Cutler Majestic last weekend could have been a primer of the ways not to dance ballet.
- Crowning glory
In 1967, George Balanchine created Jewels for New York City Ballet, and in short order this evening-length triptych — Emeralds , Rubies , and Diamonds — became the crown jewel of 20th-century dance.
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