Seeing dancers dance up close is a very good thing says Bruce Marriott. So is following them around the East End in a ghostly Victorian world...
Author - Bruce Marriott
If the choreography was a mixed bag there was a clear flip side, or rather two. This year's standard, particularly on the boys' side, gave cause for celebration at the strength on show...
Ultimately this was a very human take on the 'Dream' - full of emotional punch, fun and bold movement in a clever modern staging. It's a production that you could take anywhere...
...a jewel of a performance from Nao Sakuma. Her movement is beautifully musical, weighted and controlled - she hardly ever needs to do adjustments, so precise is she.
The movement (in Goddard Nixon's Middlemost Nowhere) was exquisite, at times full of careful balances and slow complex duets, their senses slow and dulled it seems, turning in a moment to explosive speed.
Derek Deane created a winner that always seems to sell well and which people, including me, don't grow tired of. But fill your boots this year - next year "Romeo and Juliet" returns as the ENB/RAH blockbuster
Birmingham Royal Ballet are busy at the moment - we catch up with them touring a mixed bill, and at home in Coppelia - happy times...
I hope ENB do lots more short and sweet choreographic initiatives to real audiences. Well done all, great to have a go - now do more.
A hit with me and I'm so glad it's a great success in the company's home and a great calling card for touring. It's a particularly useful broadening of Scottish Ballet's repertoire.
The most unexpectedly delightful piece for me, and one looking rounded and finished in its 10 minutes, came from Mayuri Boonham... She joined Indian and ballet traditions...
As I say ultimately the kids on the afternoon I was there had a good old time. But I'd like to think that something where the steps assume greater significance will show little people even more of the joy of dance.
First thing to say is that it's a peach of a production, coherent, dramatically satisfying... It still feels fresh and vibrant... The three leads did well... Elsewhere it was a mix of good and ragged steps...
...the Mikhailovsky put on a wonderful display of classical excellence that we just don't routinely see in the UK.
While I wasn't wowed by the closer, as I left I couldn't stop talking about the Bhuller and Gable and wishing to see major companies put them both on in full. That and the usual thought: Another year, another fine night from Ballet Central - well done all.
I've seen 'There is Hope' twice now and want to again - there is so much to unpack. ...It's a beautifully-crafted piece with the band an integral part of the telling - as much as the dancers. It deserves a lot more touring...
All up, I came out entertained and it's a piece that will endure. And if all the company can conqueror Act 1 there will be smiling families all the way, I think - smiling at the drama and the movement.
Of this year's 4 premieres, 2 very much connected with me and 2 didn't.
The good thing about Midnight Tango is that it doesn't feel like a production that has been skimped on in any way. ...So are these ingredients deployed to good affect? Well I'd hoped for a little more, to be honest
People talk about wanting to get new and younger audiences in for dance and this was really a great way of achieving it.
As a young partnership Delia Mathews and Tyrone Singleton really are exceptionally good.