The Frederick Ashton Foundation marked its tenth anniversary with an evening of rarely performed Ashton pieces and a specially commissioned film, Frederick Ashton: Links in the Chain, by Lynn Wake.
Tag - Alicia Markova
★★★✰✰ 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.
The Jacob’s Pillow website contains an important and incredibly diverse dance archive under the banner "Dance Interactive" - Susanna Sloat introduces an important resource and calls out many video gems...
Ashton Rediscovered Masterclass: "Foyer de danse", coached by Ursula Hageli & Christopher Newton, and the "Le Papillon" solo, coached by Wayne Eagling. Jann Parry with a detail report for DanceTabs..
★★★★✰ It was a well-balanced programme, featuring different kinds of discipline for future corps de ballet dancers, and honouring veteran choreographers as well as contemporary ones.
Graham Watts' citation, made before the presentation - a major appreciation of a huge star of dance and theatre...
★★★✰✰ Alongside George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, one could argue that the third most important voice at New York City Ballet in the twentieth century was that of Igor Stravinsky.
★★★✰✰ If you remember the 1948 film, the plot is easy to follow. If you don’t, and can’t pick up the references to ballets, a printed scenario would be helpful, as would job-descriptions of the characters...
David Drew, for 56 years a member of The Royal Ballet, has died after a long battle with illness. He described himself as one of a ‘bridge generation’ of dancers. The longevity of his career meant that he worked with many figures from the Ballets Russees – but also taught many dancers and choreographers working today.
Sutton was originally asked to write a brief account of Markova’s career for the Gotlieb Centre but soon realised that her subject’s life, personal and public, was so fascinating that she undertook a substantial biography
Tina Sutton's book "The Making of Markova: Diaghilev’s Baby Ballerina to Groundbreaking Icon" is about to be released in paperback - Jann Parry talks to Sutton about unearthing one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century...
Eighty years after Robert Helpmann left Australia and joined the Sadler’s Wells Ballet company, a Royal Ballet School symposium celebrated his achievements as a man of the theatre.
The National Ballet of Panama recently put on Coppelia, staged by Vasily Medvedev over from St Petersburg. Margaret Willis was there for DanceTabs and we have lots of pictures of a colourful production:
Obscurer corners of early British ballet are connected in the exhibition 'An Outbreak of Talent', at the Fry gallery in Saffron Walden, Essex until June 30 2013.
An in-depth interview with the lady who helps bring Balanchine back...
The compere of the evening was Anthony Dowell, in fine voice. He spoke the narration, enacted several of the characters and gallantly danced the ‘Fred step’ from Pavlova’s 'Gavotte' with Ursula Hageli as Anna.
Firebird: To Williamson’s credit, the action, though baffling, never palls. He knows how to deploy a diverse cast, using an interesting vocabulary of classical ballet steps and partnering. He’s obviously fired up his dancers to commit themselves to their roles, flaunting their glitzy costumes with panache. But it’s a muddled piece, overpowered by Stravinsky’s myth-making music.