The whole thing (Minus 16) wasn’t a piece of choreography so much as a choreographed event, and hands down one of the most delightful things I’ve ever seen.
Reviews
Reviews of Dance and Ballet Performances
Boston audiences were very lucky in their first two Swanildas. Opening night, Misa Kuranaga was a vision of loveliness...
The choreography looks like a steroid-fueled hybrid of Graham-based agony and the precision and fluidity of classical ballet. ...nothing succeeds like excess...
At the end of Bye, a man nearby leapt to his feet and shouted “awesome”. She sure is.
...Webre saves the best for last. ...watching the bare-knuckle boxing brawl in the end of the ballet, instigated by the disgruntled Robert Cohn, is worth the price of admission alone.
The 12th International Ballet Festival - Dance Open - was held over 4 days in St Petersburg. Margaret Willis (our Ms Expressivity) was there to report on much ballet and not a little award giving...
Symphony in C, a luminous outpouring of legs and arms, crisp geometries, bobbing rhythms, and articulate patter-like conversations for the feet, is a vivid reminder of why one goes to the ballet at all. Luminosity and classical logic, laced with wit and intelligence.
The ballet succeeds most in its incidental scenes – though everything is presented fortissimo. Most clever is the way in which Nixon depicts Myrtle and George Wilson ...The performances of Benjamin Mitchell and Victoria Sibson were the strongest of the evening.
Along the way, the show strings together some memorably ravishing songs and knock-out dance numbers while having fun...
The Smuin Ballet’s current season, Spring Bouquet, has one remarkable flower at its center. The ballet’s title, Petal, hardly does it justice in this metaphor since the work is far beyond the sum of its botanical parts.
In fact delight was the keynote of the whole evening ...I was very happy to see the whole company reclaiming their 'joy in dancing', the Bournonville essence which is fundamentally what keeps these old ballets alive.
Chroma: Perhaps it’s meant as a kind of sherbet to clear the palate between the Balanchine pieces... In short, I found the ballet dazzling but soulless.
But 'A Place for Us' (new Wheeldon) feels like a bauble, not quite a jewel.
It is a mixed experience: too long and overworked in places, a dark vision, unevenly realised, with some striking and chilling moments.
Christopher Wheeldon's new Cinderella for San Francisco Ballet is spied in 2 more casts by Aimée Tsao. Some nice dancing but still rather an OTT Broadway-style extravaganza.
The title of Kate Prince’s latest extravaganza is way too modest. On the basis of the universal adulation pouring from this audience, not just at the end but throughout the show, it would appear that EVERYONE likes it hip hop.
...the crowds – from the six-year-old toprocking on stage for a prize t-shirt to the octogenarian gentleman seated next to me in polite raptures – were most definitely entertained.
I hope ENB do lots more short and sweet choreographic initiatives to real audiences. Well done all, great to have a go - now do more.
A delightful production, on this occasion, there was the added excitement that the two principals, Maria Shirinkina and Vladimir Shklyarov, husband and wife, were performing the ballet together for the first time.
If extravagant productions are the way to bring in new audiences and fill the till then they are justified for those reasons alone. However, they don’t necessarily leave a rich legacy for future generations.