We also have the next Ballet.co Magazine coming together and you can see it grow through the next month until it is released at the end of January.

Next Ballet.co Magazine
January 2006

Previous Ballet.co magazine - August - October 2005

"I have to admit, however, to feeling a little Bournonvilled-out by the end of nine days. Quite honestly some of the Bournonville repertoire probably should be put out to pasture, or perhaps not paraded so publicly. Take Far from Denmark, a work which describes how Danish naval marines hosted a party on board their ship to repay hospitality they had received while in Buenos Aires."

Kirov Ballet

"International stars may occupy opening nights, but Novikova and Sarafanov left lingering moments in my mind of a land where feeling and intimacy are added to classical virtuosity and both elements triumph."

American Ballet Theatre

"The other linchpin of The Green Table is the juicy role of Death, created originally by Jooss himself. ABT's Death is David Hallberg, in what might well be the role of his career..."

"Nowadays, in this world of Supermoms and overachieving Young Urban Professionals, de Mille's story, of the tomboyish cowgirl who can't get the attention of her crush, the Head Wrangler, until she abandons her boyish ways, puts on a dress like the other girls, might seem quaint, even sexist. Certainly this point could be debated for ages, but on seeing 'Rodeo' again after decades (my last Champion Roper was the incomparable William Carter), I was impressed by the deft strokes with which de..."

" Rodeo: "Although the choreography is not very interesting in itself, the work gives a clue to de Mille's underlying artistic principles. “All I know about dance composition,” she once wrote, “I learned from folk dances. These are trustworthy models because they are the residuum of what has worked; there is no folk dance extant that did not work.”"

"Back in the glorious Sixties, when George Balanchine was creating 'Jewels,' he was said to have considered a section devoted to sapphires, before finally settling on emeralds, rubies and diamonds. I haven't had much occasion to contemplate this tidbit of information, and wasn't expecting to this evening, until the curtain rose on the world premiere of Peter Quanz' 'Kaleidoscope' (set to Saint-Saëns 'Piano Concerto No. 5') and, blam!, there was 'Sapphires' itself staring me in the face. Or..."

" Upper Room: "It'd take far too long to recap all the dancers, but I particularly enjoyed the very under-used Michele Wiles as one of the jazz-shoe girls. Tall, blonde and with endless enthusiasm, Wiles is a paradigm of the leggy cheerleader type Balanchine found so entrancing."

Mark Morris Dance Group

".. a comment overheard as we left the theatre when a man complained,'Pointing the finger! I've never seen more sophomoric choreography.'"

"I will never give up on the conventional Nutcracker, but admittedly, Mark Morris' alternate view is refreshing, acutely observed and mostly plain brilliant."

San Francisco Ballet

"December 2 saw a stellar cast in the major and minor roles of The Nutcracker Helgi Tomasson mounted using a 1915 post-Panama-Pacific Exposition setting. The second season at the Opera House reinforced the initial impression that the handsome environment Michael Yeargen fashioned provides San Francisco's dancers a nifty environment for the year's annual money-maker."

Boston Ballet

"A perfect autumn opener, Cinderella reminded us quiet moments are frequently the best."

Diablo Ballet

"Taj Mahal: "Diablo dances and dance well, sometimes brilliantly, but does allow imagination to surmount anthropological correctness. When this ballet was first announced, I was tempted to send Kabanaiev Indu Sundaresan's Twentieth Wife and Feast of Roses, two historical novels based on the life of Nur Jahan, the aunt of Mumtaz, responsible for the initial meeting of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz when both were young. Kabanaiev might consider this meddling. It's a pity I restrained myself; the..."

Ballet Austin

"I left that evening thinking that perhaps I'd have liked the works better with a bit less invention, and a bit more simplicity."

City Ballet of San Diego

"City Ballet of San Diego is worth watching and they do provide an evening of pleasurable dance and hopefuly promise for the future."

National Ballet of China

"Despite the Chinese dancers Russian-style luxuriance and intricacy of the clinches Wang and Wang devise for the ballet's doomed lovers, 'Raise the Red Lantern' has no White Swan pas de deux or Rose Adagio (or Agon pas for that matter) where we see a work's essence, distilled and focussed. 'Raise the Red Lantern' has its telling moments, but they're not told by dance as much as by theatrical effects which are always clever in their simplicity, and occasionally stunning."

Oakland Ballet

"It's safe to say the evening deserved its bravos and almost hysterical ovation by an audience grateful to see Oakland Ballet back in business."

"The program proved to be easy on the eyes, mind and the audience's capacity to enjoy the obvious, well-rendered. For a family-oriented program, artistic director Karen Brown was extremely astute in her choices."

Pacific Northwest Ballet

"Symphony in Three Movements displayed the women in the corps moving like well-trained ponies, their hair bobbing almost like their unfussy rendition of the choreography. Imler and Peretta, the ballet's whiz kids, led the energy charge..."

Kirov Ballet

"Ballet Imperial was sumptuously danced. Diana Vishneva and Igor Zelensky gave a stellar performance on the opening night. But Viktoria Tereshkina and Igor Kolb were also impressive on the following night."

"It's hard to believe that the Kirov have been dancing Balanchine for only a decade or so, and thrilling to contemplate the fact that they still have an unopened treasure chest of his works before them."

"I must say that seeing Vishneva was a real treat as she's really made Steptext her own. She was just flying into the air with her endless extensions..."

"I enjoyed very much yesterday the evening performance of Nutcracker. I don't really care for the ballet in itself, and I feel there's maybe not enough dancing in it, but it was brilliantly danced and acted yesterday."

Paris Opera Ballet

" Caligula: "The audience watched respectfully, without applause for the duration of the 90 minutes, but exploded at the end with far greater enthusiasm than shown at the 'Jewels'/defile performance. In England the audience reaction would have been reversed."

"'Romeo and Juliet' famously links love, sex and death but from a romantic perspective. The three Petit ballets also associate sex with death but more sinisterly since they are danses macbres..."

Mariinsky Theatre Gala - Kirov and Paris Opera Ballet

"This was Lopatkina's first appearance on the POB's stage ... So how did she make of it ... Well at the risk of falling onto the cliché, yet I have no other words to describe her on this occasion as THE prima.... She reigned on the stage with dignity in a way only a chosen few could command, and showed what classical ballet was all about, what it could do..."

Royal Ballet

"...Gloria, Kenneth MacMillan's sublime homage to the World War I dead, closes a mixed offering in a blaze of choreographic glory with dream team Alina Cojacaru, Carlos Acosta and Thiago Soares."

" Margeurite: "Rojo hypnotises with her face and heart while her body frees her from the laws of gravity. We are lucky indeed to have her in our midst."

" La Fete Etrange: "The work was intriguing at an initial glance, though by no means as involving or as touching as it might be, or could perhaps be when the dancers get further under its skin. The shadows of untimely early death hang over it: Sophie Fedorovitch died in 1953 in an accident, Andrée Howard died at only 58, and Alain-Fournier was killed in the First World War shortly after writing his only novel."

" La Fete Etrange: "Although a questionable combination of ballets, this was an enjoyable evening, and many fine individual performances. The confusion/boredom of the audience seemed to have subsided by the end, when Guillem and Murru received their customary cheers after a fine performance of the ballet that I suspect was the only one that many of the audience wanted to see."

"Glen Tetley's Pierrot Lunaire, the inside filling of the current triple bill at the Royal Opera House, has unleashed an all-new Ivan Putrov. ... Anyone who has been enthused by his growth as an artist over the past two seasons should not miss this bill."

"Putrov's breathtaking technique is one of the most intelligently developed around today, but his priceless gift is the total lack of artifice in his presentation."

"I found Johan Kobborg's production of "La Sylphide" very likeable ... what comes across is pretty traditional and can be interpreted as one pleases. He has done a remarkable job..."

"MacMillan's Manon is a modern masterpiece with some of the most perfectly constructed dance sequences in the contemporary ballet opus. Zenaida Yanowsky has earned her place at its heart."

"Also, disappointingly, Tamara and Carlos looked really under-rehearsed. And that is a shame because Manon is to me all about the details - the moments between the steps and how well it all interweaves and flows."

"I've been very aware in the last few performances of a ... how can I put this politely? ... discrepancy between the music and the steps in a number of cases..."

"Traditional classicism delivers all the old messages like good versus evil and love conquers all, unfashionable notions, perhaps, even at this time of year. But if tradition could ever melt a radical heart, the Royal Ballet's Nutcracker can probably do it."

"Miyako Yoshida's Sugar Plum Fairy was a pure delight, a performance of dignity and grace with a ballerina's authority. Every nuance of that gorgeous music seemed to be savoured. She never seemed to be hurried and always seemed to have all the time in the world no matter how fast the music. Nothing was blurred or rushed, each step given its proper value."

"...Lamb's performance took my breath away. She is such a well-rounded classical dancer; not only technically, but she is intelligent and musical, and I always get the impression that she really understands the character she is interpreting."

"Sarah Lamb's lovely Sugar Plum Fairy was sugar-spun perfection - crystal clear in her footwork (especially in the presto ending of her solo - the best I've seen since Lesley Collier) and with a poised, patrician elegance in the slower passages of the pas de deux."

"... there's nothing mould-breaking about Tanglewood, but it's a seriously conceived and unaffectedly made piece, with no superfluous trickery to hide behind - a welcome rarity these days, when so much of the new work we see seems designed either as a fun workout for the dancers or to get the whoop-and-whistle section of the audience onto its feet."

"The first night of this season's run of Frederick Ashton's Sylvia showed us a company far more at ease and confident than they appeared last year, and as a result the ballet itself looked different - a more structured and more cogent work..."

"Well, what can I say? It's an enjoyable piece of fluff - lots of dancing, lots of tunes - but I suspect that ballet-haters would have all their worst prejudices confirmed (the sheer silliness of the piece takes some beating!)."

" La Sylphide: "As a dance entertainment La Sylphide has the same feel as Ninette de Valois' Coppelia - that is a piece created at a different time and not blurred by current theatrical values."

"All the Jameses did well though it was sad that Kobborg was unable to perform and show his echt Danish style in the part. All the more reason then that we should see this ballet again fairly soon and lets hope that having been 169 years a-coming it now remains part of the repertory."

Paris Opera Ballet

"At the time of its creation it raised questions about whether a classical company should be dancing such choreography, but in today's context it hardly looks exceptionable - there are works in the POB repertoire far further removed from ballet than this."

Matthew Bourne

"A brilliant concept, breathtaking production, ideal score and a dazzling cast, but Edward Scissorhands is five star dance theatre with a fatal flaw – poor steps."

"We've come to expect that Bourne's umbilical connection with the British public will deliver wonderful productions that please punters and on the first night there was a standing ovation at the end. This greatly perplexed me and I'd like to see a sharpened version with stronger dance numbers and which makes me care."

"There are many pluses to this show. Lez Brotherston clever sets are a delight, with lots of amusing features. The dreamy original musical score by Danny Elfman is complimented by Terry Davies lively contributions. A great piece of theatre and surely one of the best shows currently in London."

Mark Morris Dance Group

" Grand Duo: "With a basic vocabulary of four steps and rejecting boring notions like structure, not only is there nowhere to go but nothing to get there with."

"For the first time that I can remember, I left feeling slightly undernourished by a Morris programme - one more work with a real heart to it would have made a more satisying evening."

"The evening was rescued for me by V, admittedly the most balletic of the pieces. Even that was blighted by peculiar and again unflattering costumes."

Birmingham Royal Ballet

"What a fabulous way to spend an evening. Birmingham Royal Ballet's Hobson's Choice, is three acts of pure pleasure and a reminder of how near genius a dance maker we have in its creator, David Bintley."

"For the Autumn 2005 season, BRB presented a triple bill of Solitaire, Checkmate and The Lady and the Fool and the full-length Bintley ballet Hobson's Choice. After a fortnight in Birmingham, the company toured to Sunderland, London (Sadler's Wells), Plymouth and Edinburgh. My opinions which follow are based on seeing about two thirds of the performances..."

"The company looked on good form, and danced with a strong sense of solidarity and connection with each other – these really do look like an ensemble who dance together every day, not a collection of stars from disparate backgrounds."

"It is not fair to single out any of the casts but of all the performances I was most moved by Chi Cao and Ambra Vallo, particularly in the final pdd."

Rambert Dance Company

" Curious Conscience: "Against all the odds Bonachela creates a triumph of breathless modernism exuberantly fleshing out Britten's classical score. This is a man to watch."

" Swamp: "...Clark's choreography writes on the memory in a lucid, economic calligraphy which is more satisfying in the long run than any amount of excess. It made the rest of the programme look fidgety and fuzzy."

"The performance of this abomination was excellent from the dancers, fair from the singer. Curious Conscience now goes top of the list of ill-conceived, inappropriate and pretentious new dance works."

"Rambert's Spring Tour visit brought award-winning dancers and choreographers with a hugely stimulating programme of accessible and rewarding works."

English National Ballet

"What a triumph. Millions of steps, hundreds of costumes, dozens of dancers and a symphony orchestra all crammed into four acts of action ... you know this is an evening to get your teeth into."

"This is what Beauty ought to look like, I feel - gorgeous subtle colours and textures. The standard of dancing was technically high - Fernanda Oliveira was Aurora, Fabien Reimair the Prince, Desiree Ballantyne the Lilac Fairy. Reimair in particular impressed me - a very elegant solo in the Vision Scene."

"Wayne Eagling has most certainly inherited a company in the greatest of shapes.
"However, as with all great inheritances, a tax has been levied and this tax comes in the form of the Christopher Hampson/Gerald Scarfe Nutcracker. Whilst I admit that it has toned down since I last saw it in 2002 ... it remains a profanity against the eyes: Tchaikovsky and Ivanov corrupted."

Northern Ballet Theatre

"Jonathan Ollivier, as the eponymous anti hero, spends a lot of time in profile, on the principle if you've got it, flaunt it, I suppose, and swirls and operates his magnificent cloaks and costumes (Nixon's designs) to great effect."

"When this production was premiered by NBT earlier this year it was not popular with the critics although, in my opinion it has much to commend it, particularly the enthusiasm with which the whole company performs and the attractive pdd."

"We saw three Butterfly/Pinkerton pairings over five performances – all different in their interpretation and all equally worth seeing."

Siobhan Davies

" White Man Sleeps: "However, despite sinuous twining and perfect coordination, the dancers' discipline, style and control put me in mind of perfectly running clockwork and felt rather asexual."

Richard Alston

"The audience were desperate to applaud in the miniscule space between each movement. What a treat."

St Petersburg Ballet Theatre

"The company as a whole has an irresistible likeability factor impossible to ignore and a welcome antidote for all of us to a gloomy British winter."

"...an utterly charming company, full of charisma, and I urge people to try to catch them as they tour the country."
{NOTE: 'St Petersburg Ballet Theatre' is a touring name used by two very separate companies. It's rarely directly clear from reviews which company the review is about and this link may or may not be pertinent to the company you are interested in. Useful websites: www.spbt.ru (Konstantin Tatchkine company) and..."

Ballet Black

"This short programme by Ballet Black, founded in 2001, was an enjoyable evening of competent dancing with some interesting choreography from three dancers from varied backgrounds, Stephen Sheriff, Antonia Francheschi and Irek Mukhemedev."

Ballet Ireland

"The Red Shoes I think was the most accomplished of the nights offerring, with Agnes Chlebowsky taking on the Moria Shearer role. It is, of course, impossible to present a true live version of Helpmann's The Red Shoes but there are lots of references..."

Barekamutyun Dance Ensemble

"The men are slender hipped and fleet footed and the women tall and willowy with endless limbs and supple backs that are beautifully fitted to the sinewy port de bras and upright postures demanded by the form."

Boris Charmatz and Dimitri Chamblas

"Charmatz and Chamblas have developed their own unique style, and they are strong and enthusiastic enough to make it completely effective. This was a highly enjoyable programme..."

Catherine Diverres

"Diverrès' work has its own distinct language; her dancers inhabit a monochrome afterlife in which occasional sparks of colour bring back an earthly, and sometimes erotic, resonance; their movements are generally slow and long, tender and spiritual; and her choreography establishes very special images that stay fixed in the mind's afterglow as indelible sketches in space."

Central Council for Physical Recreation- Movement and Dance

"Just about every type of movement and dance was on show, and all by amateurs who are members of groups and who do it for exercise and/or the sheer love of it. We had cheerleaders, gymnasts, Victorian and Regency dances performed in full costume, yoga, Serbian folk dancing, English folk dancing, youth groups performing show dances and tunes, dance combat, Celtic dancers, Scottish country dancers, line dancing, ballroom dancing, Medau movement, Chinese Physical Culture...the list goes on and"

DV8 Physical Theatre

"I defy anyone to be satisfied with seeing 'Just for Show', just the once."

Daniel Leveille

"By the time that the six dancers have piled themselves into a well-ordered heap, a few minutes before the end, I had lost all interest in the human body and any residual regard for the choreography. I was left with a lingering respect for the bravery of six dancers who truly bared their soul (and all else) for their art and the growing desire to enhance my collection of Chopin."

European Ballet

"THERE'S been a bit of a shake-up by ex-Bolshoi dancer Stanislav Tchassov in his directorship of European Ballet. Last time here, his company looked short on involvement in their Sleeping Beauty and seemed uninterested in acting. This Gala evening was more dynamic and rewarding in its intensity and commitment."

Herman Diephuis

"Both dancers were strong, passionate and a pleasure to watch. The piece was much better on reflection than it initially seemed – Diephuis appeared to have saved his best material for the second half."

Jean Abreu

"'Fijis' is LUSH. 'Lush' is not normally a word I would use to describe contemporary dance performances, but the juicy, fluid, yet grounded and earthy sense of movement qualities in the choreography, fits the definition in every respect."

Jonathan Burrows-Matteo Fargion

"They create a private world and beckon us to come in and, somewhat mystified, most members of the audience seem to accept their offer."

"There was no actual dancing in 'The Quiet Dance' yet it was unmistakeably a dance piece. It perhaps lacked the easy accessibility of 'Both Sitting Duet', Burrows' previous work at The Place, but has every bit of the wit and warmth of that earlier piece."

La Ribot

"I found the piece interesting to watch for the first fifteen minutes and then I grew tired of it. I felt the idea for this piece was a one trick pony which lacked the substance to sustain an hour's performance and there is only so much walking and running I can watch adults do without getting bored."

Lyon Opera Ballet

"It was a tiring evening in many ways with much to look at (and probably much missed at first seeing), thought-provoking and hugely enjoyable."

Michael Clark

"It's difficult to see the work on its own, detached from its creator. There is such a mythology and legend about Clark – the eternal naughty boy, the prodigious talent, the desire to shock, the lost years, the question if he still got something to say. On top of this, he then decides to go head to head with Balanchine's seminal ballet Apollo from 1928 and invite comparisons."

"How does O stand up to Balanchine? (Clark seems to be insisting that we make the comparison.) Though both of Clark's works have striking moments, neither sustains momentum: the difference between choreographic genius and competence is revealed."

"Clark speaks with a classical vocabulary, pushing it, challenging it, but never allowing it to become guttural. It is refreshing, stimulating and, although perhaps lacking much in the quality of execution, it speaks of everything that is right about contemporary classical dance. Clean, refined, pure, he captures Balanchine's idea of "white on white"."

Moscow Ballet La Classique

"The corps were excellent and there were elastic solos from Dmitry Bugaev after the first-act pas de deux."

Rachid Ouramdane

"This deeply considered, seemingly oblique work resonates long after performance. Ourandame's physical presence, so compelling in its quiet poetic power, also remains a thought-provoking guest in the mind's eye, lingering long after he leaves the stage – and screen."

Rashpal Singh Bansal

"It will be interesting to see how this choreographer tackles longer lengths in the future."

Ricochet Dance Productions

"By employing persistent choreographic patterns consisting of a set of movements intercepted by sculptural posing at an unfaltering andante ('walking') pace, "Man & Woman" introverts the focus of energy by performers and hence gives a tone of mysterious detachment and facelessness to the characters rather than highlighting entangled emotional turmoil."

Rosemary Butcher

"Butcher choreographs in the vernacular: walking, running, stooping, rocking. Mostly rather reserved, nothing exaggerated. Giannotti gives these mundane constituents an appealing and watchable grace."

Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant

"...to see Maliphant and Guillem is to see two mature performers support and play together with everything they know about movement - it's an intimate duet of close friendship and respect."

"...one of the most beautiful shows seen for a long time..."

"Maliphant's choreography is fluid and graceful, and impressive yet without 'tricks'. It often builds with a crescendo, becoming more and more intense as it progresses."

Vienna Festival Ballet

"Go to see Nutcracker and it's like the best Christmases - the ones when you don't know what presents you're getting. Vienna Festival Ballet's excellent offering had French liqueur flavouring with a Japanese surprise."

"As a sports writer I get an idea of how women can perform as a team. The corps de ballet reveals its own examples..."

White Christmas at the Place

"Infuriating and thrilling, The Place knows how to assemble an engaging programme."

"It turned out to be the established choreographers who delivered the Christmas goods most emphatically for me. The direct hit was Siobhan Davies' The Swan which gave Kenneth Tharp - 45 going on 30 - a swangsong piece to the doleful melancholic violin of the Dying Swan. I've never seen the music on a male dancer and the choreography was clean, proud, sweeping and elegant."

"The final White Christmas was another excellent mixed bill. It started with the most ingenious and least dancerly piece, The Over Head Project being its punning title..."

"Christmas arrived in November at The Place, decorated with a yuletide double-act of Bing and bling: a mix of tinsel, snow, silver stars, mulled wine and Crosby's eponymous song..."

"The briefest work on the bill was the most intense, bizarre and surprising. The American Robert Cohan is a great name at The Place, having been the first artistic director of the theatre and of the London Contemporary Dance School... This was a tantalising glimpse at a larger project which we may yet see."

"If other evenings in the series are as enjoyable as this they will be well worth attending and Christmas (white or not) will have come early."

"The finale, 'White Christmas', to Bing Crosby's famous song, finished off the night in true Christmas fashion. Luca Silvestrini brought on the whole body of dancers from the evening dressed in white towels, joyously dancing in a stream of snow released from above. This was an uplifting end to the evening, and I'm certain that every member of the audience walked away smiling."

William Tuckett

"A goodly Christmassy extravaganzitude for tiddly ponks of all agietypes I think."

"It's a real treat from start to finish, highly recommended to all. The promotional material stated suitable for over 8's, but there was nothing very scary and plenty of 5-6 year olds who were thoroughly enjoying themselves..."