Current Ballet.co Magazine
August 2008

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

Next Ballet.co Magazine
September 2008 - go see a work in progress

Previous Ballet.co magazine - July 2008

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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 and Features



Nina Ananiashvili
One of the greatest ballerinas of her generation, dancing still but now also a director, is bringing her company, The State Ballet of Georgia, to Edinburgh and the UK for the first time - Bruce Marriott has a chat...


Friedemann Vogel
Principal, Stuttgart Ballet
A regular guest in the UK and elsewhere around the world, Simonetta Dixon catches up with a much fancied dancer...


Thomas Whitehead
Soloist, Royal Ballet
Tom talks about working and touring with Matthew Bourne as well as life in his home company. A guests of the Ballet Association back in December 2007 and released in June 2008.



Big Dance 2008
London's Big Dance had more events than ever in 2008 - Carole Edrich got to more than a few of them as the Capital got dancing...

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Royal Ballet in Hong Kong


'Sylvia' and 'Manon':
Natasha Rogai caught up with all the casts in all the ballets...

"The performances of all three casts (in Manon) were even more impressive in that none of the ballerinas was dancing with her regular Des Grieux. ...The whole company danced and acted magnificently in support."


Monica Mason
Director, The Royal Ballet
Ahead of the 2008 Asian tour Kevin Ng spoke with Dame Monica Mason, in an interview originally for the HK Economic Journal

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Diaries and weblogs


Jarkko Lehmus weblog...
the Scottish Ballet dancer who tells it like no other...
'Pre-Holiday Bumper Issue'
"Like you well know by now, it's been 12 months since the last summer holiday and I'm bursting in my seams. The whole company is wrecked and I don't even want to write about work. Let's just say that everybody is doing the minimum possible and just saving all their remaining energy for the last performances. The busses back from Dumfries and Oban will be not for the faint hearted..." (weblog home)


Madame Galina weblog...
She Is Far From The Land...is a huge understatement: Galina had the biggest blast ever in Cape Town
A major travelogue unfolds, with loads of pictures, as the great lady conquers Southern Africa... (Weblog Home)


Ballet Central weblog
Each year we follow some final-year Central School of Ballet students through their final training, UK tour and hunt for jobs. This years blogers are Brenda Lee Grech, Rym Kechacha and Tom Conlan.
End of the year and goodbyes from all...
Rym: "So this is it. Three years of hard work, laughter and tears, of dreams and disappointments, all come to a close. We graduated from Central School of Ballet last Sunday, and it was an amazing day. The whole weekend was surreal actually..." (Weblog Home)

Weblog writers
Helene Cooper
Carole Edrich
Dane Hurst
Daniel Jones

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In the Galleries

Currently our Images Gallery contains over 4600 images.


Mikhailovsky Ballet
Spartacus
photographed by John Ross



English National Ballet
Festival Ballet
A Million Kisses to my Skin, Resolution, Etudes
photographed by John Ross



English National Ballet
Festival Ballet
A Million Kisses to my Skin, Resolution, Etudes
photographed by Dave Morgan



National Ballet of China
Swan Lake
photographed by John Ross



National Ballet of China
Raise the Red Lantern
photographed by Dave Morgan



Big Dance 2008
All over London, 5-13 July
photographed by Carole Edrich



Shobana Jayasingh
and Dance Students
2 Step
photographed by Dave Morgan

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Reviews
Ballet.co reviews entered between 01/07/2008 and 31/07/2008 are included here...

USA Reviews

American Ballet Theatre

'The Merry Widow': Rachel Straus

"Kent sailed through the night as though she had been doing Hanna all season. Why the connection between Kent and Carreno, the featured lovers, never reached necessary combustion, I don't know. If it had, the ballet might have felt less flimsy."

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Ballet Across America - Program 3


Joffrey Ballet

'Ballet Across America: Lilac Garden': Oksana Khadarina

"The Joffrey dancers rose to the occasion: It was perhaps the most visually and emotionally gratifying performance of the festival."


Oregon Ballet Theatre

'Ballet Across America: RUSH': Oksana Khadarina

"The dance is intelligently conceived and elaborately constructed: Wheeldon, with admirable mastery, incorporated melodic contrasts of the three-part Sinfonietta into the dance's movements."


Boston Ballet

'Ballet Across America: Brake the Eyes': Oksana Khadarina

"It all looked pretentious and incoherent."

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Alonzo Kings Lines Ballet

'Moroccan Project' bill: Renee Renouf

"The ensemble's two works... provided ballet goers a chance to see how the company looked en plein air; the answer: very strong, quite confident and more than just once, just dazzling."


Caminos Flamencos

'Temporary Seven Year Itch': Renee Renouf

"Yaelisa is a handsome woman, tall enough to be formidable, warm enough to render size simply sensual, provocative, occasionally amusing. All the dancers, exhibited luxuriant qualities of movement."


Fanny Ara

'A Traves de Sus Ojos': Renee Renouf

"Despite the faulty lighting and sound arrangements, the musicianship and dancing made one feel, out in the pleasant warm evening, the distinct satisfaction of a substantial aural and visual repast..."


San Diego Dance Theater

'Studio Showcase': Anjuli Bai

"Isaacs is to be applauded for her generosity of spirit in giving other talent - both experienced and not so - a venue to show, to learn by doing, and to profit from her much more skilled hand. ...And I further applaud Isaacs for extending that generosity of spirit to include another dance form - ballet - into her modern dance home."

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Hong Kong Reviews


See also The Royal Ballet in Hong Kong feature


Daniel Yeung

'Medi-C': Natasha Rogai

"Daniel Yeung has sub-titled his new work Medi-C a “hyper-visual body-art Dance” but the description only hints at the nature of this tour de force of dance and multi-media. ...The evening was a triumph and was greeted by a well-deserved ovation from the audience."


City Contemporary Dance Company

'Out of the Box': Natasha Rogai

"Out of the Box, the new work choreographed by Xing Liang for City Contemporary Dance Company, is as much a philosophical statement of what Xing believes dance should be as dance in itself. Xing has drawn inspiration from the work and theories of Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky together with Gao Xingjian's book Without Isms..."


Allen Lam

'Space within Shapes': Natasha Rogai

"The original and inventive combination of live action and video throughout is an outstanding feature of the piece, starting with the clever opening where Lam may be watched either as himself, at one end of the stage, or as his projected silhouette at the other."

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Italian Reviews

Roberto Bolle and Friends

'Roberto Bolle Gala': Susy

"In the meanwhile the increasing thundering and lightening led to a shower of rain. Only a very few people left while on stage Novotna and Bolle started dancing “Petite mort”. The atmosphere was stunning: the dancers created a spell, holding still the audience while the rhythm of the music by Mozart was enhaced by the rain drops. After 1 hour and a half of great dance we left soaked but with many memories to cherish."

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UK Reviews

Mikhailovsky Ballet

'Spartacus': Graham Watts

"...it's not the 'Spartacus' that London dance fans have grown fond of over the years – the Bolshoi's Grigorovich calling card – and in terms of pure, neoclassical ballet and simple narrative, it doesn't stand up to the comparison very well. But for spectacle and extreme entertainment, it would be very hard to beat. Take your pick!"

'Spartacus': Jeffery Taylor

"This is updated 19C Russian Imperial Ballet as Court entertainment. St Petersburg based Mikhailovsky's Spartacus spans the spectrum, traditional spectacle enclosing private lust, love and hate; a visual and aural feast with palate cleansing individual brilliance..."

'Giselle': Graham Watts

"I don't know about the Mikhailovsky setting the art of ballet back 100 years, as one eminent critic suggested after 'Spartacus', but tonight it placed ballet back to the art that it was at least half a century ago and I like it!"

'Giselle' and Diverts Bill: Lynette Halewood

" Giselle: "However the dancing of the principals was exemplary – no huge effects for their own sake but delicate, Romantic style. Anastasia Matvienko was exquisitely light and might have been blown about by the breeze. Her turns when she first emerged from the grave were particularly fine, encapsulating the character's love of dance and the heady freedom of release."

'Le Halte de Cavalrie' and Diverts bill: Graham Watts

"London has grown used to a summer season from either the Mariinsky or the Bolshoi (and even both) in this decade and, in the absence of either in 2008, we could be forgiven for thinking of this first-ever visit from the rejuvenated Mikhailovsky as being a small consolation. In the event, they have delivered the most varied programme possible in less than a week to prove that Russia is home to more than just two great companies."

more reviews in Postings Reviews section


National Ballet of China

'Swan Lake': Bruce Marriott

"NBC have the bodies and technique of a truly great company, but they are still learning how to project this classical greatness and draw us fully into their world. For some their purity will be more than enough already and I certainly toast their technical and stylistic unity."


English National Ballet

'Festival Ballet': Jeffery Taylor

" Resolution: "Based on Mahler's Five Ruckert Songs. Eagling's musical ear is almost unbearably sensitive, his steps embellishing the musical line with an unerring touch. The final all male trio examining the twin towers of human vulnerability, dependency on, and faith in, your fellow man is unforgettable."

'Festival Ballet' bill: Bruce Marriott

Resolution: "The choreography alone would have spoken for itself but is surrounded by too many theatrical contrivances - very low lighting, smoke on stage throughout, a dry-ice waterfall cascading at the back of the stage, changing gobo floor projections and occasional piercing disco laser lights. It's all too busy, difficult to see, and I hope it gets stripped back on other outings - which it well deserves."

more reviews in Postings Reviews section


Sara Baras

'Sabores': Charlotte Kasner

"If there are tickets left, this is undoubtedly one to catch. It is exciting, technically stunning and convinces that flamenco can be a legitimate theatre art form without selling its soul."


'Sabores': Jeffery Taylor

"What a dancer, what a show."


West Side Story

'West Side Story': Graham Watts

"The message of the beauty of love and the futility of hate that spreads through and out of 'West Side Story', specifically in Bernstein's great score and Sondheim's bittersweet lyrics, is hauntingly and brilliantly portrayed in this revival. It is the must-see of the year!"


William Tuckett

'Faeries': Jeffery Taylor

"Faeries may be a kid's happy-ever-after fragment but it is a grown up triumph for Tuckett."


Birmingham Royal Ballet

'Stravinsky - The Real Deal': Janet McNulty

"All in all, this is a satisfying programme with something for everyone to enjoy. The Company are on tremendous form."

more reviews in Postings Reviews section


English National Ballet School

'School Show' bill: Bruce Marriott

"It's been a while since I've seen an ENBS show and in ambition things have moved on a lot, though work at this level is asking a great deal from young dancers and there is a risk of the celebratory nature of end of year shows being missed by such tough material. I do, though, applaud what the school is shooting for and it will be interesting to see how it all settles down over the years to come."

'School Show' bill: Carmela

"I have just been to the English National Ballet School end-of-year performance, and was really extremely impressed by this which showed alot of variety and talent from the dancers at all levels."


The Royal Ballet School

'School Show' bill: Bruce Marriott

"RBS had the benefit of presenting three pieces new to us and therefore tailored to the students with no associations from earlier viewings on professional companies. This included a new piece from Wayne McGregor (i-relations) that coupled his oddly disjointed, organic fluidity to Bach's Toccata and Fugue with chic unisex costumes by Tessa Balls. It looked arresting, McGregor seemed to use more pointe work than I ever expected, and the students glowed."


Vanessa Fenton

'The Mikado': Bruce Marriott

"Vanessa Fenton has always had a sense of choreographic fun and it's wonderful to see it exercised to great effect here and supporting wider theatre. I hope she does more work like this."


Cloud Dance Festival

'Cloud Dance Festival - Tabula Rasa': Emma Stevenson

"Left feeling totally satiated and sweaty hot after such a talented and dynamic showcase, the night was well executed with changes in pace and theme and an inspiring quality of collaborative dance."

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Postings Reviews section
Mikhailovsky Ballet 'Spartacus': Beryl H
Mikhailovsky Ballet 'Spartacus': Michael LL
Mikhailovsky Ballet 'Spartacus': SusanR
Birmingham Royal Ballet 'Giselle': Janet McNulty
Birmingham Royal Ballet 'Stravinsky - The Real Deal': Janet McNulty
English National Ballet 'Festival Ballet': Lynette Halewood
Elmhurst School for Dance 'Elmhurst School show': Julie Milner
Music and Dance Scheme 'Excellent!': HeatherL

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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 July to 31 July (last update of this page) we have 307 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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