A Bend in the River is innovative on many levels, but, like all successful advancements, feels both true to its sources and utterly unique.
Archive - April 2013
The vernal equinox having passed, here was my first sighting of The Rite of Spring in this the Centenary year of Stravinsky’s great masterpiece...
The season began with a high-energy mixed bill which showed the company on sparkling form.
30 pictures by Foteini Christofilopoulou...
Johnson has a challenge on her hands. So much potential and so much talent; but what is the mission?
Well, the set is spectacular, by the ever-resourceful Steven Scott. Perhaps Igor Zelensky and Sergei Polunin had simply seen stills of Peter Schaufuss’s Midnight Express when they agreed to appear in the ballet.
Rawsthorne was painted by André Derain and Pablo Picasso, and later by Francis Bacon. She was the inspiration for Alberto Giacometti’s etiolated sculptures of walking figures...
An evening of artists celebrating the past present and the future, with highlights from the classical repertoire along side new or rarely seen pieces including choreography by Marius Petipa, John Neumeier, Tim Rushton, Johan Kobborg and others.
36 pictures by Dave Morgan...
The revitalizing impact of Balanchine’s choreography on Tchaikovsky’s music was particularly evident in the all-Tchaikovsky, all-Balanchine program presented by New York City Ballet at the Kennedy Center Opera House during the last week of March.
There were wonderful performances by Ekaterina Borchenko and Leonid Sarafanov – dancers you would like to see a lot more of. But three works by the same choreographer was too much of the same dish on the menu.
His choreography is busy, occasionally predictable, but more often inventive, strong on musicality and both remarkably fluid and emotionally charged; stretching the dancers both literally and in terms of their artistic diversity.
Full press release, plus useful resource links, pictures and a video to remind us all why she is so good...
36 pictures by Dave Morgan...
First thing to say is that it's a peach of a production, coherent, dramatically satisfying... It still feels fresh and vibrant... The three leads did well... Elsewhere it was a mix of good and ragged steps...
20 pictures by Dave Morgan...
Some images from Andrej's book to wet your appetite, all courtesy of Oberon Books. Based on these we very much look forward to reviewing the book...
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Sergei Polunin will no longer be performing in Midnight Express at the London Coliseum
After an outstanding 21 years dancing with The Royal Ballet, Principal Dancer Leanne Benjamin has announced her intention to retire in July 2013, at the end of the current season.
When the Mikhailovsky Ballet first brought this production to London in 2010, Laurencia seemed a creakily old-fashioned Soviet drambalet. Now, with Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev as the leads, it sparkles with fun, melodrama and commitment...