★★★★★ ...this revival of The Red Shoes, coming with a number of tweaks, appears even tighter and slicker than the original.
Author - Graham Watts
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.
★★★✰✰ Having premiered in 2010, it is now two years’ past the median lifespan of an ENB Nutcracker and – despite many attributes – the show has reached its sell-by date.
★★★★✰ In Watkins’ choreography and MacGibbon’s mastery of camera angles and close-ups the narrative is crystal clear.
★★★✰✰ There is a mannered and refined gentility in the movement style; bodies and arms beautifully shaped with the eloquent symmetry of body bends...
Tom Dale Company Step Sonic, Resonance of Air, Escape, Surge ★★★✰✰ London, The Place 14 November 2019 tomdale.org.uk www.theplace.org.uk This two-part programme of work in progress further enhances Tom Dale’s reputation as a cutting-edge choreographer, busily shaping his own innovative dance aesthetic. The opening piece, from which the programme derives its title, was a long exploration of the...
★★✰✰✰ Blind Trip was longer than it deserved to be and mixed too many ideas to be compact and coherent, while Letlalo left me wanting more of the performance on stage but less of the filming going on beside me.
★★✰✰✰ There are six distinct works that, taped together, form WORKS... It adds up to a beguiling, albeit uneven and often inaccessible, 70-something minutes of dance.
★★★✰✰ The works offer strong contrasts between the traditional story-telling strength of Northern Ballet and more abstract thematic dance.
★★★★✰ Jeyasingh has directed a work in which all the elements integrate seamlessly to provide a satisfying, if fleeting, picture of a life.
Birmingham Royal Ballet ★★★✰✰ & Ballet Black ★★★★★ The Suit rewards multiple viewings and it thoroughly merited the opportunity of the bigger platform...
★★★★✰ Some Like it Hip Hop is full of quirky humour, great music and dance, enjoying top-notch performances throughout the whole cast of sixteen.
★★★★✰ With a strong and familiar story, an excellent songbook, well performed, and a pacy theatrical momentum, it is highly recommended.
Ballet Preljocaj are about to make their long awaited return to London's Sadler's Wells dancing "La Fresque" - Graham Watts talks to Angelin Preljocaj about the work itself and more widely about his creative life.
★★★★★ 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...
★★★★✰ Fallen From Heaven (Caido del Cielo) is referenced as the celebration of being a woman, and it is certainly all about one woman.
★★★✰✰ The great achievement of LCB is to mount professional productions, complete with full orchestra, without charging parents for the privilege.
★★★★✰ 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...
★★★★✰ Merging these two works onto the same bill created a powerful double-header of impressive and arresting dance theatre.
★★★★✰ A spectacular show, full of colour, humour and romance...
★★★★✰ 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.