American Ballet Theatre – A Month in the Country premiere and bill – New York
Has there ever been a more sensitive, sympathetic chronicler of that inner flutter brought on by the onset of love than Frederick Ashton? It seems unlikely, on the evidence of ABT’s premiere of A Month in the Country…
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – Minus 16 quad bill – Boston
The whole thing (Minus 16) wasn’t a piece of choreography so much as a choreographed event, and hands down one of the most delightful things I’ve ever seen.
Boston Ballet – Coppélia – Boston
Boston audiences were very lucky in their first two Swanildas. Opening night, Misa Kuranaga was a vision of loveliness…
Eifman Ballet – Rodin – San Francisco
The choreography looks like a steroid-fueled hybrid of Graham-based agony and the precision and fluidity of classical ballet. …nothing succeeds like excess…
Sylvie Guillem – 6000 Miles Away – London
At the end of Bye, a man nearby leapt to his feet and shouted “awesome”. She sure is.
Washington Ballet – Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises – Washington
…Webre saves the best for last. …watching the bare-knuckle boxing brawl in the end of the ballet, instigated by the disgruntled Robert Cohn, is worth the price of admission alone.
International Ballet Festival 2013 – Dance Open – St Petersburg
The 12th International Ballet Festival – Dance Open – was held over 4 days in St Petersburg. Margaret Willis (our Ms Expressivity) was there to report on much ballet and not a little award giving…
American Ballet Theatre – Spring Gala – New York
Symphony in C, a luminous outpouring of legs and arms, crisp geometries, bobbing rhythms, and articulate patter-like conversations for the feet, is a vivid reminder of why one goes to the ballet at all. Luminosity and classical logic, laced with wit and intelligence.
Northern Ballet – The Great Gatsby – London
The ballet succeeds most in its incidental scenes – though everything is presented fortissimo. Most clever is the way in which Nixon depicts Myrtle and George Wilson …The performances of Benjamin Mitchell and Victoria Sibson were the strongest of the evening.
City Center – On Your Toes – New York
Along the way, the show strings together some memorably ravishing songs and knock-out dance numbers while having fun…
Smuin Ballet – Chants d’Auvergne, Petal, Jazzin’ – San Francisco
The Smuin Ballet’s current season, Spring Bouquet, has one remarkable flower at its center. The ballet’s title, Petal, hardly does it justice in this metaphor since the work is far beyond the sum of its botanical parts.
Royal Danish Ballet – La Ventana, Kermesse in Bruges – Copenhagen
In fact delight was the keynote of the whole evening …I was very happy to see the whole company reclaiming their ‘joy in dancing’, the Bournonville essence which is fundamentally what keeps these old ballets alive.
Boston Ballet – Chroma, Serenade, Symphony in C – Boston
Chroma: Perhaps it’s meant as a kind of sherbet to clear the palate between the Balanchine pieces… In short, I found the ballet dazzling but soulless.
New York City Ballet – Spring Gala with Wheeldon premiere – New York
But ‘A Place for Us’ (new Wheeldon) feels like a bauble, not quite a jewel.
Royal Ballet – Hansel and Gretel – London
It is a mixed experience: too long and overworked in places, a dark vision, unevenly realised, with some striking and chilling moments.
San Francisco Ballet – Cinderella (another look with different casts) – San Francisco
Christopher Wheeldon’s new Cinderella for San Francisco Ballet is spied in 2 more casts by Aimée Tsao. Some nice dancing but still rather an OTT Broadway-style extravaganza.
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.
Breakin’ Convention – Day 1, 4 May 2013 – London
…the crowds – from the six-year-old toprocking on stage for a prize t-shirt to the octogenarian gentleman seated next to me in polite raptures – were most definitely entertained.
English National Ballet – Choreographics – A Letter to… – London
I hope ENB do lots more short and sweet choreographic initiatives to real audiences. Well done all, great to have a go – now do more.
Mariinsky Ballet – Giselle (Shirinkina and Shklyarov) – St. Petersburg
A delightful production, on this occasion, there was the added excitement that the two principals, Maria Shirinkina and Vladimir Shklyarov, husband and wife, were performing the ballet together for the first time.
