Dance Writer/Critic. Member of the Critics' Circle, Chairman of the Dance Section and National Dance Awards Committee. Writes for leading dance magazines & websites - in UK, Europe, USA, Japan & cyberspace. Graham is based in London.
Under are the articles written for DanceTabs. Reviews on Balletco
Mercedes Ruiz, Eduardo Guerrero and María Moreno – Gala Flamenca – London
★★★★★ As the gala’s artistic director, Liñán brought together four great talents (three dancers and a singer), backed up by an outstanding group of musicians…
Rocío Molina – Fallen From Heaven – London
★★★★✰ Fallen From Heaven (Caido del Cielo) is referenced as the celebration of being a woman, and it is certainly all about one woman.
London Children’s Ballet – Ballet Shoes – London
★★★✰✰ The great achievement of LCB is to mount professional productions, complete with full orchestra, without charging parents for the privilege.
AVA Dance Company – ORIGINS Festival: No Woman’s Land – London
★★★★✰ Ava Dance Company’s essay on the tribulations of the Inuit people from the northern-most reaches of Canada is appropriately a mix of dance theatre and spoken text…
Ballet Black – The Suit, Ingoma – London
★★★★✰ Merging these two works onto the same bill created a powerful double-header of impressive and arresting dance theatre.
English National Ballet – Cinderella – London
★★★★✰ A spectacular show, full of colour, humour and romance…
San Francisco Ballet – The Infinite Ocean, Snowblind, Björk Ballet – London
★★★★✰ Ballet companies across the globe are in a new age of commissioning …but none can match the pioneering zeal of this, the oldest American ballet company.
Faso Danse Théâtre – Kalakuta Republik – London
★★★✰✰ Without help, which was certainly not forthcoming in the programme, most of the action was a mystery in relation to Kuti and the Kalakuta Republik.
Kiera Martin – Sadler’s Wells Wild Card series: Where Ye From – London
★★★✰✰ It was one of those evenings without an obvious beginning or end…
Carlos Acosta splendidly summed up as he collects his Critics’ Circle Services to the Arts award
I was at the recent Critics’ Circle lunch when Carlos Acosta won his latest award and was struck by Graham Watts citation – it seemed to splendidly sum up Carlos, both the man and his illustrious career… and why exactly we all admire him. BM, Ed.
English National Ballet – Emerging Dancer Competition 2019 – London
★★★✰✰ The 2019 winner is London-born Julia Conway and her success was well deserved.
Sisters Grimm – Inala – London
★★★★✰ This third iteration of Inala under the Sadler’s Wells umbrella seems refreshingly new and the abundance of goodwill promised by the Zulu title was all-pervasive.
Clod Ensemble – On The High Road – London
★★★✰✰ This is the stuff of which nightmares are made. A frightful storm from which sundry strangers take refuge to spend the night in an isolated place provides the essence of On The High Road…
Fuel and Encounter – The Kids Are Alright – London
★★✰✰✰ The main story revolved around bereaved parents who had lost their ten-year old daughter, Sophie, on a daytrip to the Natural History Museum, in London….
Albert Quesada & Zoltán Vakulya – OneTwoThreeOneTwo – London
★✰✰✰✰ There may have been an intelligent premise to this show but, if there was, it remained inaccessible to me….
English National Ballet – She Persisted: Broken Wings, Nora, Le Sacre du printemps – London
★★★★✰ Grouping this diverse triple bill under the title She Persisted works in so many ways…
Alleyne Dance – The Other Side of Me, A Night’s Game – London
★★★★✰ Both sisters were competitive athletes before turning to dance and catching a flying chair is just one of many signs of their mutual sporting prowess…
Northern Ballet – Victoria – London
★★★✰✰ Despite these reservations, I am certain that Victoria will repay multiple viewings, since there is much excellent work to consider…
Mark Morris Dance Group – Pepperland – London
★★★✰✰ Morris has added two performers to the line-up since the Liverpool premiere, which now stands at seventeen dancers, spreading the load for his continual torrent of flowing, elegant, musical choreography.
Yamato – Passion – London
★★★★✰ The Taiko drumming is pure, tightly co-ordinated rhythmic energy, controlled by the beat and accented by the boom.
