
Royal Ballet – Obsidian Tear, Marguerite and Armand, Elite Syncopations – London
★★★★✰ The ostensible link between the three works in this mixed bill is that they are by the Royal Ballet’s resident choreographers, past and present: Frederick Ashton. Kenneth MacMillan and Wayne McGregor. But none is typical of the choreographers’ work…

Royal Ballet – Manon – London
★★★★✰ It’s a myth that Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon was ever regarded as a failure. Critics may initially have had reservations but audiences have enjoyed it from its first season in 1974 throughout its many revivals…

Royal Ballet – 3 casts in The Dream, Symphonic Variations, Marguerite and Armand – London
★★★★✰ In Marguerite and Armand the 3 casts reviewed are Zenaida Yanowsky and Roberto Bolle, Alessandra Ferri and Federico Bonelli, Natalia Osipova and Valdimir Shklyarov.

Gallery – Royal Ballet in The Dream, Symphonic Variations, Marguerite and Armand
An all Frederick Ashton bill. Gallery by Dave Morgan…

Royal Ballet – Symphonic Dances (premiere), The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Tarantella, Strapless – London
★★★★✰ Symphonic Dances is Scarlett’s farewell portrait of Yanowsky. Like her, the ballet is big and bold, beautiful and elusive.

Royal Ballet – Jewels: Emeralds, Rubies, Diamonds – London
★★★★✰ The first Emeralds ballerina, Beatriz Stix-Brunell, could be a water nymph, touching the hands of her suitor, Valeri Hristov, in the opening pas de deux before drifting out of reach.

Royal Ballet – Sleeping Beauty – London
★★★★✰ The grand pas de deux was the triumphant highlight of the fairytale festivities. Hay expressed the prince’s pride and pleasure in his variations; Takada was demure and regal in hers…

James Hay – Royal Ballet First Soloist
The Royal Ballet’s 2015/2016 season is providing big opportunities for James Hay, promoted to First Soloist in June…

Royal Ballet – The Sleeping Beauty – London
….thanks and admiration to Francesca Hayward for a blithe, swift Songbird Fairy, probably the most pleasing I’ve ever seen…

Royal Ballet – Hansel and Gretel – London
…we get a cleverly staged and very well danced psychodrama, scary both in what we see and what we further imagine. There are, though, two fundamental problems which hold the piece back from complete success.

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.