Dance Writer/Critic. Member of the Critics' Circle, Chairman of the Dance Section and National Dance Awards Committee. Writes for leading dance magazines & websites - in UK, Europe, USA, Japan & cyberspace. Graham is based in London.
Under are the articles written for DanceTabs. Reviews on Balletco
Slava Samodurov: bringing Yekaterinburg Ballet in from the cold
Graham Watts braved 21 hours of flights and missed connections just to spend a night at the Yekaterinburg Opera House followed by a meeting with its new(ish) Director of Ballet, Slava Samodurov, a former Principal at The Royal Ballet…
ZooNation – Some Like It Hip Hop – London
The title of Kate Prince’s latest extravaganza is way too modest. On the basis of the universal adulation pouring from this audience, not just at the end but throughout the show, it would appear that EVERYONE likes it hip hop.
RUBBERBANDance Group – Gravity of Center – London
It is rare to find a dance company that articulates a new movement methodology but that is exactly what the Montreal-based RUBBERBANDance Group have developed over the past ten years.
London Children’s Ballet – The Secret Garden – London
This is the 19th LCB production and a remarkable total of 7,500 children have auditioned over this time, with just 669 making it into the company…
Hofesh Shechter Company — Uprising & The Art of Not Looking Back – London
Each revisiting seems to offer up more than the sum of its parts, giving these former works a new and exciting lease of life
Fabulous Beast – Rite of Spring, Petrushka – London
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…
Mikhailovsky Ballet – Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness – London, Coliseum
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.
Rocio Molina – Danzaora – London
Sadler’s Wells has found the dance equivalent of the Yukon in making this young Spaniard one of its International New Wave Artists.
Tavaziva Dance – Greed – London
Despite the title, Bawren Tavaziva’s latest work is not so much about Greed as it is about the full house of deadly sins (bestial lust and envy being especially to the fore).
Scottish Dance Theatre – Second Coming, Winter Again – London
There is a mysterious exoticism in Scottish Dance Theatre’s delivery of work by two innovative choreographers (one hails from LA, the other from Norway) whose work is largely unknown in the UK.
Henri Oguike & Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment – Four Seasons – London
If music be the food of love, then it is surely the air and water of dance.
Why it’s HOT to TROCK – 5 Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo ballerinas reveal all
On the eve of a UK tour 5 Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo ballerinas reveal all…
DVD – Sensuality & Nationalism in Romantic Ballet
This is not by any means a DVD for casual viewing, but for the serious student of ballet it provides a concise and fascinating understanding of the key components of Romantic Ballet, hugely enhanced by the opportunity to see a group of restaged dances from that era that have not been seen before…
ZooNation – 10th Anniversary Show – London
Hip hop is rapidly becoming the dominant dance discipline of the 21st century. Something that emerged as raw and explosive from US street culture is now established, codified and taught all around the world.
Compagnie MPTA/ Mathurin Bolze – Du Goudron et des Plumes – London
This remarkable experience is a cocktail of circus skills, dance, mime, comedy and illusion all wrapped up in an absorbing package of ebullient physical theatre.
Birmingham Repertory Theatre/Robert North – The Snowman – London
…Robert North’s Christmas treat shows no sign of aging. This matinée was packed with children, having a few older people in tow, and everyone was having fun.
Paco Pena Flamenco Dance Company – Quimeras – London
One might view the whole show as a battle of flamenco and African styles: the one, refined, disciplined and exact; the other wild and free; but both sharing a total dependence on rhythm.
Jasmin Vardimon Company – FREEDOM – London
Freedom came when the performers were allowed to dance. And that just wasn’t often enough.
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker | Rosas – Cesena – London
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s diptych – hinged by the night – is a paean to medievalism which emphasises the crucial aspects of those times.
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker | Rosas – En Atendant – London
I can’t help but feel cheated at missing this day into dusk on a summer’s evening in Avignon and waking up to its counterpart the next morning.
