★★★★✰ 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.
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.
★★★✰✰ 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.
★★★✰✰ It was one of those evenings without an obvious beginning or end...
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.
★★★✰✰ The 2019 winner is London-born Julia Conway and her success was well deserved.
★★★★✰ 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.
★★★✰✰ 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...
★★✰✰✰ 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....
★✰✰✰✰ There may have been an intelligent premise to this show but, if there was, it remained inaccessible to me....
★★★★✰ Grouping this diverse triple bill under the title She Persisted works in so many ways...
★★★★✰ 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...
★★★✰✰ Despite these reservations, I am certain that Victoria will repay multiple viewings, since there is much excellent work to consider...
★★★✰✰ 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.
★★★★✰ The Taiko drumming is pure, tightly co-ordinated rhythmic energy, controlled by the beat and accented by the boom.
★★★★✰ For a very short while, Wim Vanlessen will enjoy the claim that he has performed for the Royal Ballet Flanders for more than half its existence. The company celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, later this year and Vanlessen joined in 1994. This performance was both a celebration of exceptional long service and a farewell...
★★✰✰✰ Yes, these are incredibly talented artists, doing exceptional things, but their circus skills were presented within an envelope that needed a lot more theatrical clarity.
★★★✰✰ Choreographed juggling is by definition a one-trick pony although in the hands of Gandini Juggling, inspired by the imaginative choreography of Alexander Whitley, the potential of that artform appears limitless.
★★★★✰ The stand-out moments in this show came in dynamic bursts of extraordinary movement in which the form of propulsion seemed to be any part of the body but the feet.
★★★★✰ Matthew Bourne has reworked his famous "Swan Lake" and it's now touring. Graham Watts wrestles with iconic and uber definitions in a long look at a much-loved work.
★★★✰✰ After all these years, here is evidence – if any were needed – that the Aerowaves experiment continues to showcase great talent.