In format Suite en Blanc reminds me a little of Harald Lander's Etudes, and it certainly fulfils the same purpose in providing the company with a spectacular programme-closer. ENB may be going through a difficult period but they don't let it show on stage.
Archive - March 2012
Picture above is from
Dave Morgan: ENB – Beyond Ballet Russes: programme 2 – 30 pictures
And I also love the fact that the city built this huge building to recognize classical ballet. Here in Texas we have the biggest monument to classical ballet in North America. That’s very cool. It was funded completely by private giving — from people who love the art, people who love classical ballet. That’s so exciting!
Local audiences also saw the return of the Lyon Opera Ballet. Their mixed programme consisted of two ballets by Benjamin Millepied, a ballet by Maguy Marin, and best of all, Balanchine’s masterpiece, Concerto Barocco, staged by Nanette Glushak.
The excellence of Tennant & Lowe’s score was always evident but the main impetus for this new, improved ballet is a greater integration of choreography, music, designs and video animation out of which emerges a more holistic package.
Another surprising choice was Taylor’s Arden Court (1981), which opened Wednesday evening’s program. The dancers were simply stunning. I hate to say, but the parallel is that Miami City Ballet does Balanchine better than New York City Ballet. Not to denigrate Taylor’s dancers at all...
Firebird: To Williamson’s credit, the action, though baffling, never palls. He knows how to deploy a diverse cast, using an interesting vocabulary of classical ballet steps and partnering. He’s obviously fired up his dancers to commit themselves to their roles, flaunting their glitzy costumes with panache. But it’s a muddled piece, overpowered by Stravinsky’s myth-making music.
34 pictures by Dave Morgan of Firebird, L-après-midi d’un faune, Faun(e) and The Rite of Spring.
With its new program titled Twyla Tharp: All American, the Washington Ballet paid homage to the high priestess of American dance...
Every performance by the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble feels like a revelation. We are lucky that the company visits New York regularly...
Anyone who went to Les Ballets de Monte Carlo’s Le Songe, artistic director Jean-Christophe Maillot’s version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream expecting a family show will have been in for a shock. Packed with graphic sexual imagery from start to finish, this is the kind of production that has small children asking “What are they doing, Mummy?”...
While Neumeier's choreography for Street Car lacked virtuosic technical dancing and any substantial group dance numbers, the ballet proved exquisite without them and PBT's well-rehearsed dancers were outstanding in the Neumeier ballet classic.
Take a test group of regular ‘Brits’ and show them a card with an apple computer emblem and, like a psychologist delving deep into their subconscious, ask them what comes to mind; Steve Jobs, iphone, ipad, creative, successful – they’d probably say. Now flash a card with ‘Ballet’ written on it.
Oyster is always what you expect Cirque du Soleil to be, but rarely is. Without apparatus, or specialty international acts, what this troupe of eight dancers and four character performers create really gives Cirque a run for their theatrical money.... a classic for all time.
Mukhamedov will be playing the roles of Rothbart in Swan Lake, the Queen’s husband and Aurora’s and Carabosses’s father in Sleeping Beauty, Clara’s Father and Sugar Plum Fairy’s Cavalier in The Nutcracker, in all performances of all three ballets.
But if some grasp of the narrative can be assumed rather than supplied, Wheeldon still needs to make us care about his characters. He does succeed in making Alice a warm-blooded, strong-willed character, and Lauren Cuthbertson works extremely hard in the role to give us a lively, resourceful and energetic heroine. Jack is less strongly drawn. Federico Bonelli is certainly handsome enough for any...
32 pictures by Dave Morgan….
...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.
There is a refreshing honesty and endeavour to Scottish Dance Theatre, which this programme – surely crying out to be sub-titled ‘Love & Dogs’ - showcased splendidly.
Grosse Fugue by Maguy Marin... Performed with energy by the dancers and received with rapturous applause by some of the audience, this is either genius at work or less fun than watching paint dry, depending on your point of view.