From the luscious Santo Loquasto sets and costumes, to the Tchaikovsky musical pastiche, and the brilliant dancing by the principals and the corps — it works. There is no question about it, no waiting to see how it all gels. San Francisco Ballet has a resounding hit on its hands.

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A gala performance such as this, kicking off San Francisco Ballet’s 2012 season, is inevitably programmed with virtuoso showpieces, designed to show off the extraordinary capabilities of what is undoubtedly a world-class company and arguably the finest dance organization in the U.S.

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For once the Mouse King is a genuinely compelling villain: his mask is a giant rodent’s skull with red eyes, his costume is murkily tatty and his dancing has a blend of exuberance and creepiness which makes him a joy to watch. James Streeter is the first Mouse King I’ve seen that Clara should be afraid of.

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The ballet consists of two parts. The first half, “The Classical Christmas,” is devoted to traditional ballet with classical Christmas music, including liturgical works. In the second half, “The Cool Christmas,” pointe shoes are out, stilettos and tap shoes are in, and the music shifts from Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic to Lou Rawls, Eartha Kitt, and Leon Redbone.

In “The Classical Christmas,” the big standout for me this year was the simplest. There is something timeless and charming about the minimalist line dance by the company women to “Veni, Veni, Emmanuel.” It reminds us that dance does not always need to be tricky and complicated to be wonderful. Oh, there were masses of tricky solos and partner work, to be sure, but the sheer loveliness of this dance will linger in memory far longer than fancy footwork.

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OK. I’ll admit it. I’m a total sap for Nutcracker. You’d think after all the years of attending and appearing in performances, working backstage, and covering numerous productions for various media outlets that I would have become more than a bit bored with the whole thing. Nope. Not a bit. Some productions I like more than others, but basically, I’m a fan.

And San Francisco Ballet, the company that presented the first full-length U. S. Nutcracker, still offers one of the best. From the moment the house doors open, the audience becomes a part of one of San Francisco’s oldest and best-loved holiday parties. Garlands, Christmas trees, and Nutcracker dolls at the boutique welcome the guests decked out in their holiday party best. The lobby is buzzy as children and adults alike eagerly anticipate the performance.

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A great thing about living in the Bay Area is that the local dance world is full of surprises. One day you think you’ve seen pretty much everything there is on offer, and the next you discover something that’s been there for a while but is new to you. It’s kind of like being one of those white cats, some of which tend to be a bit slow on the uptake.

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Mark Morris Dance Group in All Fours. Photo by Stephanie Berger. The appeal of New York City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival, which engages 20 dance companies over a period of ten days, was perfectly apparent in Lil Buck’s The Swan, a solo dance performed on opening night. This reimagining of the eponymous variation from [...]

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Lauren Lovette, in particular, is fascinating to watch in this piece: she almost passively lets the music and choreography move through her body, and yet imbues all of her movements with quiet conviction. With her light touch, she makes even the most artificially passionate steps – as when she collapses at the waist and her fingers thread down her face as if weeping – seem natural.

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But as Ocean’s Kingdom joins a growing pile of choreographic train wrecks (a drab revival of Seven Deadly Sins and the vapid For the Love of Duke were last years’ attempts to bring in new audiences), it seems NYCB is more concerned with ticket sales than artistic integrity. There are certainly many composers and choreographers, young and established, who are doing exciting work, and looking for work. Why not give them, and the audience, a chance?

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The spotlight for this season opener is the world premiere of Dear Miss Cline by Choreographer-in-Residence Amy Seiwert, which she has described as her most “Smuin-esque” piece to date. Set to ten classic Patsy Cline recordings, it is a sometimes comic, often touching, exploration of interpersonal relationships. The company has a real winner with this ballet. A big plus were the cheerful costumes by Jo Ellen Arntz (with Amy Seiwert). They captured the period of the late 1950s/early 1960s without descending into cliché-ridden “Hee Haw” country kitsch.

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Though the hype surrounding the New York City Ballet’s fall season has lately concerned a new ballet composed by a certain former Beatle, the company has continually impressed with its performances of repertoire by its founding choreographers. On Tuesday, a program of three early Balanchine works – the ballets presented were all choreographed before 1960 – showed just how modern his ballets seem half a century later.

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It is wonderful to be dancing in an ensemble again. The company is tremendously talented, and we all feed off each other’s energy and abilities. The familial atmosphere works. All the dancers seek to make their fellow company members look their best. There is a sense of common good — a sense of community.

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Pittsburgh’s In The Basement Theater Company offers one of this year’s most erotically charged entries. CHIEN DE MOI contains no nudity and very little spoken language. But the primal pounding and sensuous swirling of Marquis Wood and Sophia Schrank’s bold choreography is hauntingly seductive.

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Now known as a venue for the introduction of innovative work, Dance in the Desert showcases companies from around the world, across the United States, and from the neighboring states of California, Utah, and Arizona, as well as highlighting Nevada’s own talent.

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In many cities and towns across the U.S., once the local ballet company completes its schedule, local fans have to pretty much wait until next season to get their dance fix. Not so in the San Francisco Bay Area. This dance-rich corner of the country fields a large number of companies that populate the regular fall/spring seasons and encompass everything from classical ballet to contact improvisation. Additionally, during the off-season, while some take a well-deserved break, other dancers and choreographers reconfigure, creating fascinating new companies.

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