Bill T. Jones – Ravel: Landscape or Portrait? and Story/ – New York
It takes a certain amount of nerve to build a dance season around some of the great masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire. It’s not simply a matter of status in the musical canon; these pieces are strong, they produce emotions, they command attention for themselves. But Bill T Jones is not a timid artist…
GoteborgsOperans Danskompani – Nordic Cool season – Washington
The most successful piece from Göteborg’s troupe was OreloB (Bolero spelled backwards), created by Finnish choreographer Kenneth Kvarnström as part of the program titled 3xBoléro – a dance-triptych which interprets Ravel’s Bolero from three different perspectives.
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch – Two Cigarettes in the Dark – London
Working backwards from the title song that ends Two Cigarettes in the Dark, it’s possible to discern a theme in Pina Bausch’s 1985 piece…
Smuin Ballet – Starshadows, No Vivire, Homeless, Cold Virtues, Oh Inverted World – San Francisco
I believe that the current dancers have greater technical proficiency and more years of stage experience than previous members , and with those elements, Ballet Master Amy London’s avid quest toward perfection can finally be realised.
Richard Alston Dance Company – Shimmer, Madcap, Darknesse Visible, Isthmus – London
Alston is going to develop Isthmus, thank goodness, as soon as he has the opportunity – it’s a stunner.
Paris Opera Ballet – Suite en Blanc, L’Arlesienne, Bolero – New York
Nicolas Le Riche was fabulously predatory in Bolero, a raging furnace of self-love and sex appeal. One imagines that after the show he must have ravaged a hundred virgins, but maybe he simply went home and soaked his feet in the tub, but in any case, he was magnificent, good taste (and choreography) be damned.
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Daphnis & Chloe, Two Pigeons – London
…the evening really belonged to Robert Parker, giving his last performance in London and challenging memories of almost any of his predecessors. Whilst being very, very charming he also has some of the toughness which I think Ashton originally intended, and the sincerity of his regret at the end was entirely convincing. He will be sadly missed.
