Ballet.co Magazine
December 2006

Next Ballet.co magazine January 2007
Previous Ballet.co magazine - November 2006

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Quick Links for this magazine
Interviews, Features, In the Galleries, Reviews, Postings Reviews, External Reviews, Photographic Copyright and Credits

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Interviews & Features



20th Festival International De Ballet Da La Havana
Every 2 year a wonderful festival is held in Havana - Margaret Willis, was swept off her feet.. "The Cuban Festival is a dance-lover’s dream ... everyone kisses you and smiles!"



Mathilde Kschessinska
1872 - 1971

Jeffery Taylor relates the life of an Imperial dancer based on the book by Coryne Hall: Imperial Dancer: Mathilde Kschessinska and the Romanovs


Jonathan Byrne Ollivier
the Northern Ballet Theatre principal dancer is unmasked by Mandy Kent

John Mallinson looks at two Twyla Tharp DVD's...

Baryshnikov Dances Sinatra



The Catherine Wheel


So, You Want to Learn to Dance?
Another in the series from Anjuli Bai:
Adult in a Child’s World...

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In the Galleries

Currently our Images Gallery contains over 2700 images.

John Ross Photographs
Albums added in November...


Darcey Bussell
Kiss
London, Sadler's Wells 11/06


Royal Ballet
Chroma, Four Temperaments, DGV
London, Covent Garden 11/06


Rambert
Lady into Fox
London, Sadler's Wells, 11/06


Dutch National Ballet
Quad bill
London, Sadler's Wells, 11/06

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Diaries and weblogs

Tiit Helimets and Molly Smolen


Our newest weblog writers, the husband and wife San Francisco Ballet principals Tiit Helimets and Molly Smolen - this month its the beginning of the 2006-2007 season...
Tiit and Molly's diary     (Weblog Home)


Madame Galina...
Edinburgh, Anglia News and Myspace pals - take a walk on the wild side... (Weblog Home)

Other weblog writers
Carole Edrich
Christopher Hampson
Daniel Jones
Jarkko Lehmus
Peter Quanz

Note that Weblogs are updated in real time and may be added to during the life of the magazine.

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Reviews

Danish Reviews

Royal Danish Ballet

'Etudes, Schumann's 2nd Symphony' bill: Jane Simpson

"The Schumann piece was a disappointment. Although Scholz declared himself to be more interested in expressiveness than technique, there was not enough of the one and too much of the other to hold the interest for the forty-minute duration of 2nd Symphony."


French Reviews

Paris Opera Ballet

'Hommage a Serge Lifar': Sheila Cross

"This was the third programme over the years that the company has paid homage to their former star and director; and it was intriguing to see the roots of so much that still lives in the Paris tradition."


Russian Reviews

Mariinsky Ballet

'Balanchine and Fokine programmes': Kevin Ng

"At the end of last season it was worrying to learn of the departures of a number of extremely talented Kirov dancers, such as Natalia Sologub and Andrei Merkuriev. But I am somewhat reassured after seeing on this trip several extremely talented new dancers take on leading roles with success."

more reviews in Postings Reviews section


USA Reviews

New York City Ballet

'Fall Gala': Eric Taub

"While it's possible to spend much time and energy attempting to discern great meaning in the tea leaves of a gala program such as this, the greatest message is the simplest one: City Ballet's back, will be back until February, and that's more than enough."


American Ballet Theatre

'Glow-Stop' bill: Eric Taub

"Both of ABT's current Americana ballets, Robbins' Fancy Free and de Mille's Rodeo were created during World War II, and in both the atmosphere's suffused with adolescent hormones and not-to-be-thwarted sexuality. It's not hard to see these ballets and understand the force of the perhaps clichéd idea of impending death as a perfect aphrodisiac."


Joffrey Ballet

'Nutcracker': Oksana Khadarina

"...for their wonderful performance the Joffrey dancers deserve high praise and our gratitude."


Lyon Opera Ballet

'Grosse Fuge' bill: Renee Renouf

Groosland: "The entire ensemble appears in their stuffed and painted nudity for the final movement; to the relentless bowing of Concerto 3, they simply fly with bonhomie, leaving the audience in the same mood."


Diablo Ballet

'The Tale of Cinderella, Opus for a Table' bill: Renee Renouf

"...if anyone reads that Diablo Ballet will be performing nearby, hustle out and buy a ticket, if for the sole privilege of seeing Tina K. Rohnstedt dance. She is moving sculpture with an articulation of body and spirit to match."


Ishmael Ivo and Koffi Koko

'The Maids - Saint Genet l'Africain': Oksana Khadarina

"...innovation is what makes the work so intriguing and moving, and impossible to forget."


Ballet San Jose

'Giselle': Renee Renouf

"Karen Gabay, Giselle for the first two of four performances, has danced for Dennis Nahat for twenty-six years. This diminutive ballerina gave us a warm, vulnerable Giselle, entirely believable in both acts; her dramatic emphasis was stronger than the phrasing which ballerinas usually accent in this romantic classical ballet."


Atlanta Ballet

'Giselle': Pamela Gaye

"Giselle's performance transported viewers into the realm of the imagination, witnessing the birth of romantic ballet through the diminutive presence of Kristine Necessary, performing the lead role of the doomed Giselle, in which she evoked a lightness and sincerity, mingled with tragedy, befitting the romantic heroine."


Tania Perez-Salas Compania de Danza

'Anabiosis' bill: Oksana Khadarina

"Pérez-Salas translates her love of literature, visual arts, and music into the language of dance. What attracts me in her work is her unique ability to create dances that are poignant and provocative at the same time."

'The Hours' bill: Renee Renouf

"Perez-Salas obviously is a choreographer thoroughly concerned with impulse in the female body and unafraid to assign full, expansive movement to express unhesitating emotion and desire at its fullest. Viva la difference is her creed..."


Cirque du Soleil

'Delirium': Lewis Whittington

"A friend with me commented at one point that it was like a night at Studio 54 on acid. Alternately, this Cirque du Concert is a good trip, a bad trip, a trippy trip, ultimately a sleight of Soleil trip."


City Ballet of San Diego

'Works by Wistrich and More': Anjuli Bai

"In the dual worlds of Balanchine or Petipa – these dancers seem much more comfortable with the former rather than the latter. But I add the caveat – 'so far.'"


Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco

'Flamenco programme': Renee Renouf

"Following Gasper Rodriguez' unusual guitar composition, Carola Zertuche danced Alegrias with a robustness missing since Roya Montoya used to stare audiences down..."


Ratan Thiyam's Chorus Repertory Theate of Manipur

'Nine Hills One Valley': Renee Renouf

"What a reinforcement of Ratan Thiyam's vision"


Italian Reviews

Teatro Regio Gala

'Teatro Regio Gala': Susy

"The Queen of the evening? Of course Carla Fracci, 70 but evergreen in her intense homage to Isadora Duncan, created 16 years ago."


Brazilian Reviews

Baile do Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro

'Onegin': Preston Palon

"And how did their Onegin compare with Royal Ballet's? It was remarkably similar..."


UK Reviews

Royal Ballet

'Chroma' bill: Jeffery Taylor

"Sixty years old this month, George Balanchine's The Four Temperaments is well past its sell by date. It was as radical in its day as any of McGregor's current output, but sandwiched between Chroma and DGV last week it revealed nothing but its age."

'Chroma' bill: Bruce Marriott

"Wonderful. The Royal needs to commission further nights like this and perhaps let the past take a little more care of itself."

'Chroma' bill: Marike van Aerde

"It does not happen every day that the audience at Covent Garden welcomes a premiering ballet with such ecstatic enthusiasm as it did both Wayne McGregor's 'Chroma' and Christopher Wheeldon's 'DGV, Danse à grande vitesse'. But there is good reason for this reception."

'Chroma' bill: Ian Macmillan

"Cards on the table - I did not greatly care for "Chroma", which put me firmly in a minority in a packed house. The dancers were superb, no question, and clearly committed to their task. And there were some elegiac moments, to be sure, but I did not care for much of what they were given to perform."

'The Sleeping Beauty': Jeffery Taylor

"...she (Lamb) was merely part of the action, not the driving focal point."

'The Sleeping Beauty': John Mallinson

"...Lamb rigourously classical, trained by her Russian teacher in Boston, Ansanelli from the Balanchine school of 'bigger, higher, faster.'"

'The Sleeping Beauty': Wulff

Cuthbertson: "...in the last act that she really pulled out all the stops and showed what she is capable of. ...If she can manage to bring similar qualities to act 1 in future performances we really do have a ballerina in the making"

'First Drafts': Bruce Marriott

Trias: "The movement itself enthralled with the 3 dancers often posing and interacting in a kind of abandoned narcissistic pleasure for our delectation and admiration. Offbeat, but it all added up to a splendidly different spectacle and a peek into a different world - perhaps one in a parallel universe to Ashton's Monotones."

more reviews in Postings Reviews section


Darcey Bussell and Igor Zelensky

'Le jeune homme et la mort' bill: Ian Palmer

"What might we expect when two great artists ... come together to perform a special evening of dance in London's premiere dance house? A celebration of their artistry perhaps? An exploration of their skill? That such a question should be left unanswered by this curious 'gala' bill lies at the very heart of its disappointment."

more reviews in Postings Reviews section


Dutch National Ballet

'Vier Letzte Lieder' bill: Jane Simpson

"It was only when we reached the very last piece in the programme, William Forsyth's The Second Detail ... that I felt my eyes and my ears were getting the same message."

'Vier Letzte Lieder' bill: Jeffery Taylor

"The performers raise expectations sky high but the choreographic diet of dated ballet lite tarnishes their reputation."

'Vier Letzte Lieder' bill: Marike van Aerde

"It is hard to pinpoint what it is exactly that makes Dutch ballet so Dutch. Is it the deliberate casual approach to the choreography? The focus on the movement of the upper body? The way dancers are encouraged to abandon their 'ballet walk' on stage? Is it the staging, aiming to reduce the art to its visual minimum..."

more reviews in Postings Reviews section

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Ballet.co at Dance Umbrella

All Dance Umbrella Reviews
including papers

All Ballet.co Dance Umbrella Reviews

Dance Umbrella discussion


'Dance Umbrella Gala
Martha@The Wells': Bruce Marriott

"Val Bourne came out for a bow and standing ovation - it was another Ahh moment...."


Michael Clark

'MMM....': Bruce Marriott

"With 4 dancers Clark can fill a stage with simple steps of the utmost good taste and sitting totally harmoniously within the distorted theatrical world he creates."

'MMM....': Lynette Halewood

"What you can glipmse here is a possible different route for a skewed kind of new ballet - one that owes absolutely nothing to Forsythe and his imitators, and which is surprising pure and austere despite the daft costumes and outrageous trappings."


Stephen Petronio

'Lareigne' bill: Bruce Marriott

"I'm surprised we don't see more of Petronio's pieces in other companies - he makes dancers glow."


Nigel Charnock

'Frank': Bruce Marriott

"...he storms around the stage uttering a stream of expletives, showers you with Quality Street chocolates and then clambers all over you in his sweaty underpants."


Rosas - De Keersmaeker

'Once': Graham Watts

"There was something extraordinarily magical in this solo from the incomparable Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. How else is it possible to explain the unnoticed passage of time where an hour and a half flies by in minutes?"


The Cholmondeleys and the Featherstonehaughs

'Yippeee!!!': John Mallinson

"My only regrets at leaving Yippee!!! 15 minutes before the end were that I hadn't done so an hour earlier..."

'Yippeee!!!': Charlotte Kasner

"Several people walked out in front and behind me and many comments were at best lukewarm as I eavesdropped on the way out. Yipee! was a one trick pony for dedicated fans only."

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St Petersburg Ballet Theatre

'Giselle': Jeffery Taylor

"Time after time last Monday I rubbed my eyes to confirm that these were the steps I have grown up with as Kolesnikova constantly revealed new nuances and meanings that took my breath away."


Rambert Dance Company

'Lady Into Fox' bill: Bruce Marriott

Lady into Fox: "One wishes that Rambert would just stop reinventing the past or simply put the works on as conceived - struggle though it might be for the foot-stampers in the audience."


Walker Dance Park Music

'5 2 10': Ian Palmer

"...just what the doctor ordered for these darkening November nights: arresting, intelligent and musical contemporary dance."


Birmingham Royal Ballet

'Romeo and Juliet plus Stravinsky Programme': Alison Penfold

" Romeo: "'It's MacMillan, Jim, but not as we know it.'"


Scottish Dance Theatre

'Touching Zulu' bill: Ian Palmer

Zulu: "I am not usually given to political statements in art, but here it seems to live because of the dance (rather than instead of it) and for that I found it captivating."


Momix

'Lunar Sea': Graham Watts

"In this case it is truly what the eye doesn't see that makes it worth seeing!"

'Lunar Sea': Jeffery Taylor

"They do it better, and more honestly, at any Blackpool ice show."


Russell Maliphant Company

'Transmission' bill: Ian Palmer

"Maliphant's dance is always of freedom, of airy lightness, as if charged with a universal breath... We need to see more of this company."


Protein Dance

'The Big Sale': Graham Watts

"...despite fishing in a well-trawled pond, 'Big Sale' manages to retain its own fresh and innovative style."


Union Dance

'Sense of Rapport: Rapport, Silence Disrupted': Graham Watts

"This is a very sharp, focused and charismatic group with the individuality of each dancer clearly stated in their work..."


Ockhams Razor

'Firsts 2006: Every Action': Graham Watts

"It is fascinating, pared-down aerial artistry performed without smoke and mirrors, and genuinely articulates Ockham's 'Razor' principle of achieving excellence through simplicity."


Sally Marie

'Firsts 2006: The Extra': Graham Watts

"...for all its pathos, the work was ultimately disappointing with long pregnant pauses adding nothing to its quality, especially in an over-elaborate monologue..."

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Postings Reviews section
Mariinsky Ballet (Kirov) 'Swan Lake': Catalina
Mariinsky Ballet (Kirov) 'Swan Lake': Fedora
Dutch National Ballet 'Vier Letzte Lieder' bill: Celine Tan
Darcey Bussell and Igor Zelensky 'Le jeune homme et la mort' bill: Lynette Halewood
Darcey Bussell and Igor Zelensky 'Le jeune homme et la mort' bill: Mandy Kent
Royal Ballet 'Chroma' bill: Leonid
Royal Ballet 'Chroma' bill: Paul Bunton
Royal Ballet 'Chroma' bill: Anneliese Handley
Royal Ballet 'Chroma' bill: Celine Tan
Royal Ballet 'The Sleeping Beauty': Ann Williams
Royal Ballet 'The Sleeping Beauty': Simonetta Dixon
Royal Ballet 'The Sleeping Beauty': Elise
Royal Ballet 'The Sleeping Beauty': Wendy Glavis
Royal Ballet 'The Sleeping Beauty': Michael LL
Royal Ballet 'The Sleeping Beauty': Paul N
Royal Ballet 'The Sleeping Beauty': Celine Tan
Royal Ballet 'First Drafts: Trias, Seacastles': AlexP
Northern Ballet Theatre 'The Three Musketeers': Janet McNulty
Golden Dragon Acrobats 'Chinese acrobats show': Renee Renouf

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External Review Links
Each day Ballet.co scour the world for Review links (and news and interviews ones too) and put them in our database along with our own reviews. You can see the last few days' links on the:
TodaysLinks page

In the period from 1 November to 30 November (last update of this page) we have 331 links for you.

Alternatively try searching for exactly what you are after with our: Reviews Advanced Search page

All our links list dancer details, a full list of pieces performed and a brief quote that gives the flavour of the review. Sadly not all papers maintain their links and so we cannot absolutely guarantee any particular URL. Enjoy, and if you think we have missed a review do send us a link.

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Photographic Copyright and Credits

All photographs are copyright and cannot be taken and/or used elsewhere. Click on an image to be taken to the associated page where appropriate credits are stated.

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