★★★★★ Of all the shows I've seen this year this probably had the least dance content and yet as a package it really delivers on the wonder and thoughtful difference that theatre can make to all our lives. Charmed I was...
Archive - December 2017
Head and shoulders above other new work this year was Crystal Pite’s Flight Pattern for the Royal Ballet...
The Metropolitan Opera in New York staged "Le Rossignol" in December 1981 as part of a programme commemorating the hundredth anniversary of Stravinsky’s birth... the producer was John Dexter. He told Ashton, back in London, that he could choreograph two dancers as the Nightingale and the Fisherman on stage, while the roles would be sung by opera singers in the orchestra pit...
Some dance can be really thought provoking and that seems to have been the case with Tero Saarinen's "Morphed" - at least for Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer who recently caught up with the work at the Joyce in New York.
Six Performances That Stayed with Me in 2017 - Marina Harss with her personal selection of New York dance memories this last year.
★★★✰✰ While the production is supremely stylish and the characters well-observed with expressive and romantic choreography, the narrative is padded out in order to fill the music, particularly where traditional elements of "Cinderella" have been excised.
★★★✰✰ I’ve seen The Christmas Ballet five times over the years and it has always been and continues to be a lovely, celebratory afternoon or evening at the theatre. That said, I still struggle with the format.
★★★★★ As artistic director of her own troupe, Farrell was able to take her devotion to Balanchine and her aspiration to promote and preserve his legacy to a new level. For nearly 20 years, Washington audiences have enjoyed an annual mini-festival of Balanchine’s works...
★★★★★ The house was abuzz on Friday evening for the opening performance of Mark Morris Dance Group’s The Hard Nut. It’s been five years since Cal Performances hosted the production, and clearly fans had been anxiously awaiting its reappearance.
★★★✰✰ One of the ballet’s biggest departures from tradition is having the same dancer play Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy. The reasoning is unclear, but Kase proves versatile enough to pull it off...
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou...
★★★★✰ A charming, uplifting ballet that truly sets the scene for Christmas. A large part of the heart-warming effect was Darrell’s decision to populate the stage with children...
Gallery by Dave Morgan...
Dancer, choreographer, actress, teacher, director, writer, and mentor, Carmen de Lavallade is a true artist in every sense of the word – and a true legend.
★★★★✰ Roberts’ "Members Don’t Get Weary" is very much a mature work with a strong emotional charge and esthetic signature.
★★★★✰ Nutcracker Rouge is a lush, flesh-fueled frenzy of sensuality and spectacle. McCormick’s gift for erotic elegance is mesmerizing. Any raunch manages to be a good dose of the subversive while also being good plain fun.
★★★✰✰ The MCB dancers exude Balanchine brio and delight in performing his intricate steps, but they had to give their all to keep up with the youngsters.
★★✰✰✰ In truth Polunin's latest show at the London Coliseum, although it has its moments, isn't such a great advertisement for him as a dancer or as a creative mixer of the ballet pot.
★★★★★ When Peter Wright’s production of The Nutcracker for the Royal Ballet was given its premiere on 20th December 1984, gala guests were treated to free champagne and souvenir booklets. No expense was spared...
★★★✰✰ What to take away from this evening? It seemed odd to present sampling as something that needed explaining – but maybe that’s me showing my age.