On the eve of the Clive Barnes Foundation announcing its annual awards we interview Valerie Taylor-Barnes, the great critics widow, about her life in dance (including the Royal Ballet) and the work of the Foundation...
Tag - Dance and Dancers
My nickname in BRB used to be Bastard - and something happened with Ballet Hoo! - I don't know whether it's my age, or the kids we worked with, but it made me realise that you can get the best out of dancers and students by coming in on a certain level and talking to them on a certain level - not always shouting. I do shout still, I do get very angry...
It's a fortunate dance-goer who can discover a critic whose opinions she can trust – doubly fortunate if it's a critic who sees and reports on more performances than any of the rest. It's more than fifty years since I first found that I was turning to John Percival's reviews before anyone else's...