...the evening really belonged to Robert Parker, giving his last performance in London and challenging memories of almost any of his predecessors. Whilst being very, very charming he also has some of the toughness which I think Ashton originally intended, and the sincerity of his regret at the end was entirely convincing. He will be sadly missed.
Reviews
Reviews of Dance and Ballet Performances
There is a refreshing honesty and endeavour to Scottish Dance Theatre, which this programme – surely crying out to be sub-titled ‘Love & Dogs’ - showcased splendidly.
Grosse Fugue by Maguy Marin... Performed with energy by the dancers and received with rapturous applause by some of the audience, this is either genius at work or less fun than watching paint dry, depending on your point of view.
At the end the curtain came up once again, and Brigitte Lefèvre (artistic director of the ballet) and Nicolas Joel (director of the opera as a whole) emerged to announce the promotion of the evening’s Solor, Josua Hoffalt, to the ultimate rank: étoile. There were buckets of tears, from Hoffalt, Gilbert, and Dupont. In fact, it was the high point of the evening. An uncontrolled release of emotion...
Kochetkova and Boada were so transcendent that even this microscope-eyed critic could soar with them beyond the less than ideal frame of Tomasson’s version.
They were at last in tune with each other in the bedroom pas de deux, both despairing at his departure. Hamilton came into her own as an actress in her cumulative rage at her parents’ lack of understanding; her resentment at being forced to be Paris’s puppet was compelling. She’d changed from a helpless child to an inwardly defiant young woman...
One of the posters for the Royal Danish Ballet's Dans2Go programme, now in its second year, describes it as 'Ballet for Beginners': it's intended primarily as a taster evening to show new audiences what ballet can do, via three short pieces covering the widest possible range. All tickets cost 150 kroner – about £17 – or half that for under-25s or students, so it's not surprising that every...
The ballerinas who made the greatest impact were Uliana Lopatkina and Tamara Rojo: regal, gracious, seemingly effortless...
Across all three works, the art of set and costume designs, video projections and lighting vied with an almost equal intensity of image-creation with the music and choreography... It was all too much to absorb in a single sitting.
But in Sharper, aggressively awkward movements are kept to a minimum: the ugly is reduced, and the residue now acts like a tonic of wit. And for the first time in Elo’s work, at least in my experience, we find a lyricism and beauty so profound they sometimes took my breath away.
'Storyville' is a familiar morality tale, but Cira Robinson’s heartfelt commitment as Lola makes us care anew. Hampson has indeed turned her into a star... 'Captured' is a triumph for the company and Martin Lawrance, the choreographer.
...so I will just conclude with noting that another depressing thing about the evening's kitsch-ridden choreography was that it didn't quite obscure the occasional glimmers of brilliance that reminded us that these men are, indeed, among the world's best, despite this tawdry presentation.
Philadelphia’s dance community and a legion of dance fans have been filling the Merriam Theater this week to catch the final performances of Pennsylvania Ballet Principal Riolama Lorenzo. Pushing Boundaries is great programming to mark the occasion and to show the future of this company, going into its 50th season next year. Rio, as she is affectionately known, started out as a member of NYCB...
Taking notes at a performance by Richard Alston's dancers is - for me, at least - a pointless occupation. Descriptive words and points of reference fly past in an unending stream, like Canada Geese migrating for the winter: start writing and you are never likely to stop!
It’s hard to top Morris’s dancers for spontaneity, dramatic force, and exhilarating energy. On opening night, the dancing was nothing less than brilliant: From the opening “Mad Crossing” to the concluding “Finale,” the cast commanded the stage, dancing with sheer joy and élan, compelling the audience at the end of the performance into a thunderous standing ovation.
Come the end of 2012, this is likely to be one of my highlights of the year. It's not often I see a show and then book to see the same cast immediately again or pester others to go. The reason is that Jealousy works on so many different levels...
This was a pleasant night, pleasant for its broad content but especially pleasant because mixed bills and choreographic variety are not something normally associated with Northern Ballet. It's a time of great hardship for all the major companies as grants are pegged back and I hope the company will continue its journey in introducing more variety like this.
Symphony in Three Movements: This collaboration of two of the giants of 20th century art (Balanchine, Stravinsky) was clearly a marriage made in heaven, and thanks to Boston Ballet’s newest production, we got to attend the nuptials.
The local audiences warmly welcomed the long-overdue return of the Hamburg Ballet which was appearing for the third time in the festival. For this 40th anniversary festival the Hamburg company brought both a plotless ballet and a narrative ballet by its renowned choreographer, John Neumeier.
This is turning out to be a very good season for Kenneth MacMillan's Song of the Earth. We saw a deeply moving interpretation from Scottish Ballet at Sadler's Wells a couple of months ago, and last night, as the second half of a Royal Ballet double bill, it again looked like a masterpiece.