New York City Ballet – Spring Gala with Odessa, Ratmansky premiere – New York
★★★✰✰ With only four works, no intermissions and a run time of less than two hours, New York City Ballet’s Spring Gala was short and to the point.
Matthew Bourne – An Appreciation on his winning the Critics’ Circle Award for Outstanding Services to the Arts
Graham Watts’ citation, made before the presentation – a major appreciation of a huge star of dance and theatre…
Vanessa Fenton – Bouncing back and new works presented in Siobhan Davies and Clore Studios
After a few years below the radar Vanessa Fenton has been quietly bouncing back choreographically and this month presented her own double bill at Siobhan Davies Dance Studies and once again contributed a piece to the Royal Ballet’s latest Draft Works bill.
New Adventures – Matthew Bourne’s Early Adventures – London
★★★★✰ Matthew Bourne celebrates the 30th anniversary of his own company at the same time as Tate Britain has launched “Queer British Art 1861-1967” to mark the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality. “Early Adventures” could be a theatrical coda to the exhibition…
Russian Ballet Icons Gala – In the steps of the Ballets Russes – London
★★★★✰ The long gala (three and a half hours with one interval) was well organised, with no speeches and no protracted curtain calls.
Interview – Robert Barnett, former New York City Ballet dancer and longtime Artistic Director of Atlanta Ballet
Robert Barnett joined New York City Ballet in 1949. In those early years he worked closely with Balanchine and Robbins particularly before going on to direct Atlanta Ballet. Now 91 he is still actively involved in dance and passing on all he knows…
Miami City Ballet – The Fairy’s Kiss, Walpurgisnacht Ballet, Polyphonia – Miami
★★★★✰ The Fairy’s Kiss (Ratmansky premiere): The final image is poetic, grand, inspiring. It takes one’s breath away.
2016 National Dance Awards – Winners Announced
The Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards for 2016 were presented today at a ceremony in London, hosted by Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy MBE and Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante, the creative team behind the highly successful dance company, Boy Blue Entertainment.
American Ballet Theatre – Swan Lake – Washington
★★★★✰ Making her debut in the role of Odette/Odile 28-year-old soloist Devon Teuscher emerged as a shining star in American Ballet Theatre’s Swan Lake at the Kennedy Center Opera House last week.
Russian State Ballet of Siberia – La Fille mal gardée – Basingstoke
★★★✰✰ The Siberian company performs its Fille mal gardée with good heart and neat feet.
Royal Ballet – Woolf Works – London
★★★✰✰ The ballet’s narrative interest depends on the dancer, and both performers are magnificent – different in tone and physicality, though not markedly so.
New York City Ballet – La Sonnambula, Prodigal Son, Firebird, Allegro Brillante, Swan Lake, Four Temperaments – New York
★★★★✰ Sara Mearns, who made her name as Swan Queen at the age of nineteen, is still the most thrilling Odette around.
Memorable Performances of 2016 – London
Lynette Halewood with her personal selection of London dance memories from the past year…
Interview – Viviana Durante: Ballerina, mother, teacher and coach of MacMillan’s Anastasia
One of the leading interpreters of Kenneth MacMillan’s dramatic ballets Viviana Durante’s leaving of the Royal Ballet at the height of her powers was a sad loss to London, if the gain of those who saw her perform elsewhere all around the world. Well now she’s back at the Royal Opera House, this time to coach MacMillan’s Anastasia, which is where Jann Parry caught up with her…
Royal Ballet – Anastasia – London
★★★✰✰ The last act redeems the evening. We learn more about the characters in the final 40 minutes than in the two preceding acts.
The Washington Ballet – 40th Anniversary Celebration – Washington
★★★✰✰ “Hi! I am Julie Kent, artistic director of the Washington Ballet.” Looking ravishing in her long strapless slivery-white gown, her hair immaculately styled, the new director of the Washington Ballet introduced herself to the audience of the fully-packed Eisenhower Theater…
Book – Peter Wright: Wrights and Wrongs – my life in dance
His is an insider’s account, complete with waspish comments and cameos of the famous people he encountered…
Wu Husheng and Qi Bingxue – Shanghai Ballet’s stars of Echoes of Eternity
After a successful season of Patrick de Bana’s Jane Eyre, back in 2013, Shanghai Ballet returns to the London Coliseum with the same choreographer’s Echoes of Eternity – we catch up with the stars of it – Wu Husheng and Qi Bingxue.
Bolshoi Ballet – Swan Lake – London
★★★✰✰ According to the programme notes for Yuri Grigorovich’s 2001 account of Swan Lake, his Prince Siegfried is a ‘ballet Lohengrin’ – a Knight of the White Swan. The production is all about him.
