★★★✰✰ Trying to understand a holistic approach to the narrative was like compiling a jigsaw where some of the pieces are missing and others don’t fit.
Reviews
Reviews of Dance and Ballet Performances
★★★★✰ Marianela Nunez and Vadim Muntagirov's account of Swan Lake is spellbinding... if Scarlett's revision of the 1895 scenario makes even less sense than the original.
★★★✰✰ The Joffrey Ballet brought a program of four diverse works. Peck’s Times was a hit as was Christopher Wheeldon’s Commedia. The other two works weren’t misses per se...
★★★★✰ Revisor is a strange and complicated piece of dance theatre. Watching it requires peeling away the many layers that constitute the work and it feels like trying to find someone hidden under many different disguises.
★★★★✰ Family ties were explored in two markedly different ways in this hip hop dance double bill.
★★★✰✰ Lasting 75 minutes the Che Malambo show is quite spectacular, if unevenly so...
★★★★✰ Joan Clevillé’s direction deserves much praise. A solo show for more than an hour on such an esoteric subject is a difficult framework to sustain and Clevillé’s structure is expertly paced with quick transitions and surprising interludes.
★★★★✰ Although starkly different in theme and intention, both 13 Tongues and Dust showcased the company’s unique blend of movement, drawn from classical and modern traditions...
★★★✰✰ In the last week of its winter season, New York City Ballet unveiled a new work by its resident choreographer, Justin Peck, to a score by the popular neo-Minimalist composer Nico Muhly. It was a homecoming of sorts for Peck...
★★★★✰ the phrase 'piano piano' translates as “slowly, slowly, gradually, gently, carefully; quietly; take your time; don’t rush – you’ll figure it out.”
★★★★✰ Isadora Duncan's spirit has been honoured, even if the impact of her presence remains elusive.
★★★✰✰ The Washington Ballet new program titled Balanchine + Ashton showcased four works by the two great choreographers, who “forever shaped our art form,” as the company’s artistic director, Julie Kent, put it in her opening remarks.
★★★★✰ Alina Cojocaru's choice of works for her brief season at Sadler's Wells provided an insight into her priorities as she reflected on her career: live music-making and dance-making that has something to say.
★★★✰✰ There were parts I adored and elements that didn’t resonate as much.
★★★✰✰ The idea of setting a story about a refugee family to the songs of Sting was inevitably an enforced marriage of his diverse lyrics with a narrative for which they were never intended.
★★★★✰ Paul Taylor Dance Company shone in the two older works on the program, Esplanade and Company B.
★★★✰✰ In The Cellist, Cathy Marston has taken on a challenging subject for her first commission for the Royal Opera House stage: the real-life story of a much-loved musician Jacqueline Du Pré...
★★★★✰ It’s comforting to know that at even my advanced age I can still be confounded even by hoary old Swan Lake.
★★★✰✰ This was indeed a case of Up Close and personal with five intimate pieces variously dosed with Cuban fire and flair...
★★★★✰ I saw two performances; each of them demonstrated why Giselle is still so popular even 180 years after the ballet’s premiere.