Janice Berman

If you want to see a literal corps de ballet, or body of the ballet, you have to see the Mariinsky; the company has returned to Cal Performances with a Swan Lake.

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.

Rudolf Nureyev, ballet’s first modern superstar, was as fastidious and driven about his costumes as his dancing. A new exhibition at the de Young Museum helps to tell the story of his impact on ballet.

Launching its season with terrific dancers and successful explorations of new repertory, Smuin Ballet appears poised to climb to a higher level in the regional ballet firmament.

SFCV leaps into the rich Bay Area dance scene this season. Here’s a guide to events we’ll have our eyes on.

Artistic Director Robert Battle brings an enhanced repertory and an energized company to Cal Performances.

The San Francisco Ballet sets fair Verona aglow as Helgi Tomasson’s Romeo and Juliet returns to the War Memorial Opera House

In its first performances since the Ballet San Jose's recent upheavals, a mixed bill offers mixed results, but cause for hope.