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…
Slava Samodurov: bringing Yekaterinburg Ballet in from the cold
Graham Watts braved 21 hours of flights and missed connections just to spend a night at the Yekaterinburg Opera House followed by a meeting with its new(ish) Director of Ballet, Slava Samodurov, a former Principal at The Royal Ballet…
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.
Sofia National Ballet UK Tour – July 2013
The Sofia National Ballet has announced an exclusive debut UK summer tour for 2013, performing in nine venues around the country.
English National Ballet – Ecstasy and Death bill – London
Rojo has declared that her ambition as artistic director of ENB is to make audiences hold their breath. I certainly did during Le Jeune Homme et la Mort…
Nadia Nerina and Isabel Rawsthorne exhibitions at the Royal Opera House
Rawsthorne was painted by André Derain and Pablo Picasso, and later by Francis Bacon. She was the inspiration for Alberto Giacometti’s etiolated sculptures of walking figures…
Mikhailovsky Ballet – Without Words, Nunc Dimittis, Prelude – London
There were wonderful performances by Ekaterina Borchenko and Leonid Sarafanov – dancers you would like to see a lot more of. But three works by the same choreographer was too much of the same dish on the menu.
Mikhailovsky Ballet – Don Quixote (Osipova / Vasiliev) & Giselle (Semionova / Matvienko) – London
…the Mikhailovsky put on a wonderful display of classical excellence that we just don’t routinely see in the UK.
Happy Birthday Nina Ananiashvili
A tribute to Nina Ananiashvili – with personal memories – on her 50th birthday.
Mikhailovsky Ballet – Giselle with Osipova and Vasiliev – London
Osipova is tireless, impelled by a supernatural force until she fades away in a spine-tingling ending, a spirit no longer. Osipova’s Giselle has given every last atom of herself to Albrecht and to us, her witnesses.
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Aladdin – London
Don’t expect big emotional highs and lows or deeply defined characters, just a clear narration of a story that everyone knows. So if we judge it on these terms how does it do?
Royal New Zealand Ballet – Anatomy of a Passing Cloud, Of Days, Bier Halle – Auckland
Three radically different worlds are conjured up by strongly contrasting styles of dancing, music, set and design…
Yasuko Yokoshi – Bell – New York
Some experiments sound better on paper – especially when one admires the artist behind them – than they turn out to be in reality.
Paris Opera Ballet – Giselle – Sydney
During the season, and over five nights, I saw each of the five Giselles – Dorothee Gilbert, Myriam Ould-Braham, Ludmila Pagliero, Isabelle Ciaravola and Melanie Hurel, and four Albrechts…
Carla Korbes – Pacific Northwest Ballet – Principal
Now thirty-one Carla Korbes has grown up to become one of America’s most remarkable ballerinas. Her recent performance of Terpsichore’s duet with Apollo at the Guggenheim was one of the most touchingly natural and innately musical interpretations I’ve seen.
New York City Ballet – Serenade, Mozartiana, Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 – New York
I’m not yet fully convinced of the wisdom of New York City Ballet’s thematic seasons, organized around the music of a single composer….
DVD – Sensuality & Nationalism in Romantic Ballet
This is not by any means a DVD for casual viewing, but for the serious student of ballet it provides a concise and fascinating understanding of the key components of Romantic Ballet, hugely enhanced by the opportunity to see a group of restaged dances from that era that have not been seen before…
Mats Ek, Choreographer, working at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Ek laments the loss of dramatic repertory in today’s classical programming. “Many modern dancers don’t want that ‘reason’ for doing,” relegating drama in dance to childish pantomime, not serious business.
Natalia Makarova Honoured at The 35th Annual Kennedy Center Honours
The Honors are America’s highest award for those whose creative triumphs influenced and enhanced American culture. This is a celebration of their outstanding careers and extraordinary talents and appreciation of their unyielding commitment and contribution to the arts.
Royal New Zealand Ballet – Giselle – Wellington
What this creative and glorious revisiting has achieved is an enrichment and revitalization of everything the work holds dear and, at the same time, a wonderful showcase for this company of 32 talented young dancers.
