Jann Parry with some thoughts on the Darcey Bussell gala to raise funds for British Ballet and featuring Ballet Black, Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, New Adventures, Northern Ballet, Rambert2, Scottish Ballet and The Royal Ballet.
Author - Jann Parry
★★★✰✰ With works from Christopher Wheeldon (Within the Golden Hour), Kyle Abraham (Optional Family: a divertissement - a premiere) and Crystal Pite (The Statement & Solo Echo)
★★★✰✰ With works from Yuri Possokhov (Senseless Kindness), Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (Laid in Earth), Stina Quagebeur (Take Five Blues), Russell Maliphant (Echoes) and Arielle Smith (Jolly Folly)
Feature - The Royal Ballet School recently danced a 'lost' Ninette de Valois ballet, "The Arts of the Theatre", reconstructed by Anna Meadmore. Jann Parry with a full report on an interesting excavation of the early days of British ballet.
The intention of this wide-ranging guide is to "tell all" about ballet from training through to life in a professional company. Jann Parry with a thoughtful overview of the detail it covers...
★★★✰✰ While Sarasota Ballet’s audiences in Florida may be familiar with much of the Ashton repertoire (more so than many British ballet lovers), international subscribers to Sarasota’s digital offerings have been able to catch up with some little-seen gems.
★★★★✰ I had missed SFB’s London season at Sadler’s Wells in 2019, so was pleased to catch up with ballets brought together for this digital triple bill.
★★★★★ This collaboration between choreographer William Forsythe and New York City Ballet dancer Tiler Peck is the best-conceived dance film streamed during current Covid-19 constraints.
★★★★✰ George Balanchine's "Stravinsky Violin Concerto" has just been streamed by NYCB - Jann Parry on a complex and effervesent masterwork, if Balanchine stated that it was simply his response to Stravinsky’s music...
The Royal Opera House has been celebrating International Women’s Day (8 March 2021) with a week of activities one of which saw international choreographer Pam Tanowitz in conversation with the Royal Ballet's Beatriz Stix-Brunell...
The Royal Ballet's Sarah Lamb has long admired choreographer Twyla Tharp and in 2017 she got to work with the renowned mover and shaker of dance...
★★★★✰ Balanchine's "Prodigal Son", staring Daniel Ulbricht and Teresa Reichlen, has just been streamed by NYCB - Jann Parry, who also watched the recent Inside NYCB coaching video of 'Prodigal', puts an important work in context...
★★★★★ "Thank you, Sarasota Ballet, and Michael Trusnovec, licensee of Paul Taylor’s works, for making two of his lovely pieces available to a virtual audience bereft of live performances."
★★✰✰✰ Episode Two of Dancing Nation contains works by Humanhood (Júlia Robert and Rudi Cole), Botis Seva for Far From the Norm, Will Tuckett for Birmingham Royal Ballet, Oona Doherty, Boy Blue and Akram Khan with Natalia Osipova (for which ★★★★★).
★★★★✰ Program 3 features all-British choreographers: Peter Wright, Peter Darrell, Christopher Wheeldon, Matthew Bourne and Kenneth MacMillan. The exception is a solo by American Dominic Walsh, created for his own contemporary dance company. ...Some of the selections are probably unfamiliar to American audiences, as well as to British ballet fans of a younger vintage.
★★★✰✰ Russell Maliphant's 12-minute contribution to English National Ballet's digital season is a mass of contradictions. ...The result is familiar if you know Maliphant's work, but must be mesmerising for viewers who've never seen dancers appear as evanescent as fireflies.
★★★★✰ Yuri Possokhov's contribution to ENB's digital season is based on the novel Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman – a War and Peace about the Soviet Union during World War II
★★★★✰ There's no reason to feel short-changed by the Royal Ballet's Covid-compliant Nutcracker. The magic of Tchaikovsky's music and the beauty of the dancing still enchant spectators of all ages.
★★★★✰ The streamed in-house recording of the premiere on 24 October 2020 features Ida Praetorius as the Sylph, Jon Axel Fransson as James and Kizzy Matiakis as the witch, Madge – her last role with the company.
★★★★★ Thank you, Royal Ballet, for giving so much pleasure in trying times.