DANCE
MONDAY - SATURDAY, JUNE 4 - 9*
7:30 PM MONDAY - FRIDAY
2:00 PM & 8:00 PM SATURDAY

Alexei Ratmansky:  Harlequinade
American Ballet Theater
Metropolitan Opera House
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan

$22-$245
http://www.abt.org/events/harlequinade-2/

Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky may be culturally retrograde in many ways -- but he's undeniably a major talent, one of the best people working in any medium right now.  He understands dance, how to order movement and gesture and to use stage space; he understands drama; and he understands comedy, too.  This brand new (world premiering) piece is a restaging of an oldPetipa piece (based, obvs, on commedia dell'arte) from the time of the birth of Russian ballet.  You can bet that Ratmansky will restage it with a good deal of wit, and that the result will create massive delight.

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT:  Old Skool ballet, so why not Old Skool dinner?  The Leopard at des Artistes.  They're having a special discounted promotional menu this week (although as far as I'm concerned it's missing a course -- but you can also order à la carte from the full menu).  The paccheri with "Genvose" sauce -- a Southern Italian dish that has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Genoa -- is not to be missed.