Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg to leave The Royal Ballet at the end of 2012/13 season
Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg have announced they will leave The Royal Ballet at the end of the 2012/13 season to pursue other artistic challenges.
Boston Ballet – Coppélia – Boston
Boston audiences were very lucky in their first two Swanildas. Opening night, Misa Kuranaga was a vision of loveliness…
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…
American Ballet Theatre – Symphony in C, Moor’s Pavane, Symphony #9 – Washington
…with choreographic masterpieces by George Balanchine and José Limón and a Washington D.C. premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s new work, this ABT program was in every way a balletomane’s dream come true.
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…
American Ballet Theatre – Hong Kong Arts Festival Season – Hong Kong
The season began with a high-energy mixed bill which showed the company on sparkling form.
Peter Boal – Pacific Northwest Ballet – Artistic Director
So how long does he see himself staying on the far side of America? “Well, I am just about to sign another six year contract,” he grinned…
Hamburg Ballet – Nijinsky – San Francisco
It’s Valentine’s Day and I wish I could write a “love letter” review to the Hamburg Ballet. I am not being sentimental – this company is full of incredible dancers, from principals to corps de ballet…
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…
San Francisco Ballet – Borderland (premiere), Suite en Blanc, In the Night – San Francisco
The highly anticipated world premiere of Wayne McGregor’s Borderlands, commissioned by SF Ballet, meets with a standing ovation.
Paris Opera Ballet – Don Quixote – Paris
It’s not every day Petipa’s carefree Don Quixote comes with a health and safety warning. …Injuries played havoc with the casting throughout November and December…
Paris Opera Ballet – William Forsythe / Trisha Brown bill, Don Quixote – Paris
The middle piece, O Zlozony/O Compsite, is a beautiful work by Trisha Brown, made for the company in 2004. Bizarely it always reminds me of Ashton’s Monotones…
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 Danish Ballet – La Bayadere – Copenhagen
So far as I know, no major company has ever before attempted a time-shifted Bayadère, so Hübbe had the whole of history to pick from. He chose the later years of the British Raj…
Australian Ballet – 50th Anniversary Gala – Melbourne
It was a program that harkened back to the big international Galas of previous years, as well as a nice reference to the company’s first years, when artists including Sonia Arova, Erik Bruhn, Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev guest-starred.
Paris Opera Ballet – Serenade, The Prodigal Son, Agon – Paris
The company danced Serenade well but the very simplicity in its choreography, created as it was initially for students, ironically makes it hard to produce a perfect performance…
Mariinsky Ballet – Swan Lake – San Francisco
That said, the company is still on top form. The corps de ballet is flawlessly unified technically, stylistically and musically down to their eyelashes.
Paris Opera Ballet – La Source – HD cinema broadcast
…Bart’s a gifted and discerning artist, with a deep understanding of the Opera’s heritage and style. Rather than trying to “recreate” the long-forgotten original choreography by Arthur St. Leon, Bart’s made a new work that feels old, as if it had long been a warhorse of the Opera’s repertory, subject to over a century of vagaries in taste and technique, yet emerging today all the richer for the experience, and eloquent of its history.
Mikko Nissinen – Boston Ballet – Artistic Director
“I think for me the high point is that I don’t see Boston audiences as having any limitations. When I got here everybody was telling me what I couldn’t do and people warned me to play it safe. But I have found people extremely open and willing to explore and I’m really thrilled about that.”
