Reviews

Ivan Putrov – Men in Motion – London

by Jann Parry January 28, 2012 Reviews

After all the fuss about Sergei Polunin abruptly leaving the Royal Ballet, guess who stole the Men in Motion show? Daniel Proietto, in the AfterLight solo Russell Maliphant made for him in 2010. Admittedly, you could read the 15-minute solo as a warning of the fate awaiting a troubled dancer deprived of the support of a company of colleagues

Read the full article →

Moscow Kremlin Ballet – Swan Lake – Athens

by Graham Watts January 28, 2012 Reviews

Somova is going to become one of the world’s greatest dancers within a very few years and it is a great honour to have been able to watch the progress of her early career.

Read the full article →

Marrinsky Ballet – Chopiniana, The Firebird, Scheherazade – Washington

by Oksana Khadarina January 26, 2012 Reviews

Balancing spectacular dancing with stirring drama, the Mariinsky dancers delivered a riveting, unforgettable performance. I left the Opera House with wonderful memories…

Read the full article →

Royal Ballet – Draft Works – London

by Bruce Marriott January 26, 2012 Reviews

Good to see Draft Works in the larger Linbury Theatre and as ever much fun to spot rising choreographic and dance stars closer than normal…

Read the full article →

Hofesh Shechter and Antony Gormley – Survivor – London

by Graham Watts January 14, 2012 Reviews

As has happened so often before, this collaboration by two individuals who are outstanding innovators in their own art, didn’t quite add up to the sum total of that brilliance.

Read the full article →

Royal Ballet – Romeo and Juliet – London

by Lynette Halewood January 12, 2012 Reviews

The production stands or falls by the strength of the central performances, and on this occasion we were fortunate indeed.

Read the full article →

Hong Kong Ballet – The Nutcracker – Hong Kong

by Kevin Ng December 31, 2011 Reviews

I have been reviewing this production of “Nutcracker” continuously since its premiere in 1997. It is an above-average production overall; the most outstanding component are the costume and set designs by Peter Farmer.

Read the full article →

Birmingham Royal Ballet – The Nutcracker – London

by Bruce Marriott December 29, 2011 Reviews

So… dump the singer, dial up the orchestra, install some more video screens pointed at where people sit and I’d be happy. I think though I’d be happier seeing this production in a normal theatre still. But as presented it’s no bad night and I hope it draws some more people into those theatres

Read the full article →

New Adventures – Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker! – London

by Jann Parry December 27, 2011 Reviews

Coming-of-age is the default story line of many a dance work based on a fairy tale. The problem with The Nutcracker’s ‘traditional’ scenario is that the growing up takes place in Sweetieland – a young child’s fantasy of overindulgence – while Tchaikovsky’s score is filled with complex emotions.

Read the full article →

Reflections on Dance in London – 2011

by Lynette Halewood December 26, 2011 Interviews / Features

This is not a “best of” the year: it’s a reflection on those events and performances that have stuck in the mind for the right or wrong reasons…

Read the full article →

Forsythe Company – I don’t believe in outer space – Brooklyn

by Eric Taub December 14, 2011 Reviews

I’m sure I can’t hold Forsythe himself entirely responsible. For instance, the program lists “Dramaturgy” by Freya Vass-Rhee. (I think it’s a safe bet that whenever a dance program lists a dramaturgist, one should run for the hills. Remember ABT’s Sleeping Beauty?)

Read the full article →

American Ballet Theatre – Duets, Villandry, Seven Sonatas and Upper Room – New York

by Eric Taub December 7, 2011 Reviews

The more I see Alexei Ratmansky’s Seven Sonatas, the more impressed I am at what a jewel of construction it is.

Read the full article →

Boston Ballet – The Nutcracker – Boston

by Alan Helms December 6, 2011 Reviews

James Whiteside and Lia Cirio made a splendid couple as the Nutcracker and the Sugar Plum Fairy. Whiteside is, as I’ve said in earlier reviews, the best male in the company these days, and though Cirio has not moved me in the past, she’s gained in presence and precision and now makes a stronger impression in her second season as a principal.

Read the full article →

Royal Ballet – The Nutcracker – London

by Jane Simpson December 5, 2011 Reviews

The glory of the evening, though, was Marianela Nunez as Sugar Plum, substituting at only an hour or so’s notice for the suddenly indisposed Sarah Lamb, and thereby getting this one performance with Thiago Soares, whose partnering complements her so well.

Read the full article →

Kyle Abraham – Live! The Realest MC – Pennsylvania

by Steve Sucato December 4, 2011 Reviews

On the whole Live! The Realest MC was a triumph with adroit performances by all of Abraham.In.Motion’s dancers. The work was filled with many indelible images whose emotional impact lingered long after the final curtain fell.

Read the full article →

DVD Review: Royal Ballet’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland on Opus Arte

by Rym Kechacha November 30, 2011 Interviews / Features

Breathtaking as Lauren Cuthbertson as Alice is (and she really is perfect) the ballet belongs to the exotic undulations of the Caterpillar, the feverishly tapping feet of the Mad Hatter, and the bloodthirsty hysteria of the Queen of Hearts.

Read the full article →

Nina Ananiashvili and the State Ballet of Georgia – New York

by Eric Taub November 29, 2011 Reviews

So you’re Nina Ananiashvili, aka The World’s Greatest Ballerina™. You’ve just given a kick-ass performance of The Dying Swan, and you’re favoring the adulatory crowd of picture-hungry, iPhone-wielding fans with one of your celebrated, in-character curtain calls. You could make yet another soulful, swanny curtsey—they’re eating it up—but that, any ballerina could do, and you’re Nina Ananiashvili, etc. So you flutter offstage, cue the cellist, and dance the whole thing again, even better.

Read the full article →

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker/ Jerome Bel – 3Abschied – London

by Graham Watts November 24, 2011 Reviews

It would have been bearable and perhaps even understandable if that had proven to be the end of the show. But, Bel then arrives and explains the rationale for continuing and it becomes clear that – in effect – the 3Abscheid is only now beginning…

Read the full article →

Bolshoi Ballet at the Cinema – Sleeping Beauty – Telecast from Moscow

by Eric Taub November 22, 2011 Reviews

I’m still adjusting to the idea of live ballet at the movies, but it is not without its charms, and I settled down for this morning’s performance (10:00 am, Eastern Standard Time) after a brief, if expensive, visit from the Popcorn Fairy.

Read the full article →

Royal Ballet – Asphodel Meadows, Enigma Variations & Gloria – London

by Lynette Halewood November 21, 2011 Reviews

It was a promising mix of contrasts which didn’t altogether work on the day, mainly because of a rather underpowered version of Enigma. It was in the newest work that the dancers looked most at home.

Read the full article →

Ballet Manila – Pistang Pinoy – Manila

by Graham Watts November 19, 2011 Reviews

“This 30-minute show, ‘Pistang Pinoy’, has run over three nights every weekend for more than two years (clocking up almost 400 performances to date) and if there are more people wanting to see it than the Star Theatre can accommodate, then they just put on an extra show! Even extending to three shows in one evening has happened. What a great idea.

Read the full article →

Rambert Dance Company – Seven for a Secret bill – London

by Graham Watts November 18, 2011 Reviews

You can almost feel the warm breath’ of New Orleans blowing through ’Elysian Fields’, the world premiere of this work created by Javier De Frutos (his third piece for Rambert and his fifth for Pieter Symonds) to celebrate the centenary of Tennessee Williams’ birth.

Read the full article →

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre – White – London

by Graham Watts November 15, 2011 Reviews

The new direction being sought by Lin Hwai-Min, the maestro behind Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, is exemplified in ‘White’, the three sections of which provide an effective contrast between the old and the new. …My preference is easily for the older, more traditional work…

Read the full article →

Scottish Ballet – MacMillan/Elo Double Bill – London

by Jane Simpson November 11, 2011 Reviews

If Kenneth MacMillan wrote anything finer than Song of the Earth, I haven’t seen it yet; and if I’ve been more moved by a performance of it, I’ve forgotten it.

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries