★★★✰✰ Death was long on Pandit Chitresh Das’ mind. Over the past decade, the world-renowned kathak master prompted his San Francisco–based dance company to consider “What will you do when I am no longer here?”
Reviews
Reviews of Dance and Ballet Performances
★★★✰✰ Overall, the impression was of a company in top form, at ease in a variety of styles. The dancers have an easy-going, open demeanor that makes even the knottiest works look more appealing.
The Mariinsky Ballet brought Raymonda to Washington where Oksana Khadarina saw the opening night and gave it ★★★. A night later the performance got ★★★★ - different ballerinas, different result...
★★✰✰✰ What’s going on in the head office at the Mariinsky Ballet?
★★★★✰ This is a bold project, crammed with incident and detail, and highly atmospheric.
★★★★✰ Clarity of execution is a hallmark of this Seattle-based company, which has been led since 2005 by the former New York City Ballet star, Peter Boal.
★★★★✰ Flamenco Festival London 2016 (at Sadler's Wells) took a little diversion away from dance with guitarist Vicente Amigo presenting a night of his work. And OK, yes, there was some dance! Graham Watts reports...
First some housekeeping: I saw the first night of "Terra", which was a preview - the press night is the third performance (25 February). So see this as impressions of the show, and when I see "Terra" again, towards the end of the run, I'll update.
★★★✰✰ The action is arranged around a meta-narrative: the emotional breakdown of the trilogy’s fictitious stage director (Marc Stevenson) as he tries to write its first piece while dealing with the aftermath of his wife’s murder.
★★★✰✰ Handsome to look at, with its film-noir lighting and flattering black 1940’s style dresses (by Marc Happel), Jeux nevertheless proves to be rather thin...
★★★✰✰ When I think of Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) under David Bintley I think of tradition with a capital T and the latest double bill underlines that in spades.
★★★✰✰ "There are choreographers who make one go hot and cold, and one of those, for me, is Pam Tanowitz."
★★★★✰ "...there’s something deeply heartfelt about Voces, Suite Flamenca, her homage to the six flamenco maestros..."
★★★✰✰ Wheeldon’s talents are on display, as well as the Royal Ballet’s dancers. A pity, then, that Strapless has been exposed without previews to sort out its weaknesses.
★★★✰✰ The Bournonville footwork and even the mime are there, but there’s little sense of joy or pathos of any kind.
★★★✰✰ Like all Pina Bausch’s pieces based on her company’s residencies in different cities, this one (which translates as ‘like moss on a stone’), inspired by Chile, is tantalising in its references.
Award winning Mark Bruce has just unveiled his latest work - The Odyssey - based on Homer's epic poem. But circumstances around the premiere have put the company through their own testing odyssey, if we were tantalised and enthralled by what we saw...
★★★★✰ DanceTabs reviewed the Scottish Ballet premiere of Cinderella and now we catch up with the last show of the season - which also happened to be Eve Mutso's last performance with the company.
★★★✰✰ " Bond's strength, for now, lies in a kind of old-fashioned insistence on beauty and her ability to coax sensitive, generous performances out of her dancers."
★★★✰✰ "Untapped! is a cheap and cheerful, mildly rowdy show which puts a spring in one’s step."