★★★★★ What this Bacchae resembles most is a kind of carnaval, an ordered mayhem in which up is down, all inhibitions are shed, and madness reigns.
Tag - Afternoon of a Faun
★★★★✰ It was a good night for Afternoon of a Faun, in particular. Chase Finlay, débuting in the role of the young dancer sensually lolling about a ballet studio, brought back the eroticism this ballet often lacks.
The aim of the annual festival is to celebrate Russian influence in international culture, thanks to Diaghilev’s productions in the first two decades of the 20th century... St Petersburg also wants to boost its reputation as ‘a great forum of the arts’, introducing contemporary creations from different nations to Russian audiences.
★★★★✰ It’s always exciting to discover a new side of an artist. For this, and for an immensely entertaining show, we have to thank Matthew Bourne.
★★★★✰ The long gala (three and a half hours with one interval) was well organised, with no speeches and no protracted curtain calls.
Robert Barnett joined New York City Ballet in 1949. In those early years he worked closely with Balanchine and Robbins particularly before going on to direct Atlanta Ballet. Now 91 he is still actively involved in dance and passing on all he knows...
★★★★✰ Jessica Lang's Her Notes is a lovely and poetic work, though one with a slightly subdued effect. It is almost too tasteful.
★★★✰✰ Even after his death, Vaslav Nijinsky suffered from the power and control of others...
★★★✰✰ NIJINSKI neatly lassos this altogether using Goecke’s avant garde movement style ...to give the Stuttgart audience an abstract impression of Nijinsky’s life and contribution to Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.
★★★✰✰ The past few years have seen the beginning of a transformation of the Paul Taylor Dance Company – or, rather, as it’s now known, of Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance. The company is looking to the future...
Acosta’s Carmen is far from a disaster, propelled by committed performances and Tim Hatley’s dramatic designs...
Gallery by Dave Morgan...
Amy Seiwert, a San Francisco-based choreographer, is gifted. For the last several years, she has held the position of Choreographer in Residence at Smuin Ballet, where she has arguably surpassed her mentor, the troupe's founding father, Michael Smuin, in choreographic talent...
The National Ballet of China dancers are beautifully trained, surprisingly tall, willowy – even the men – and delicately featured.
The most impressive (if not, incredible) thing is that his scratch company exudes the professionalism that one would expect from a tight-knit group that has lived, trained, rehearsed and performed together for seasons.
The final triple bill of the Royal Ballet’s season reverts to its founder’s faith in classical ballet as an expressive language.
Gallery by Dave Morgan...
The opening and closing pieces showed how skilfully Cohan responds to dancers whose training and experience are very different from the Graham-based technique on which he drew for many decades.
Collaboration is the theme running through dancer/choreographer Tim Casson’s Wild Card evening at Sadler’s Wells; it’s also the foundation stone of his Casson & Friends project, running since 2012.
George Balanchine’s favorite composers may have been Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky, but it’s no secret that he also had an affinity for France and its music...