La Scala Ballet – Giselle and Don Quixote – Brisbane
★★★★✰ Nicoletta Manni’s performances in Don Quixote and Giselle on the last three days of Teatro alla Scala ballet company’s season in Australia was extraordinary, not just for her stamina and resilience, but her acting skills.
Australian Ballet – The Merry Widow – Sydney
★★★★✰ The Merry Widow is Robert Helpmann’s great gift to the Australian Ballet. It premiered in November 1975 and has been staged more than 400 times since.
Australian Ballet – Murphy (Graeme Murphy tribute bill of 6 works) – Sydney
★★★✰✰ Within this potpourri of Graeme Murphy’s works, the highlight was “Grand”, a charming and poignant tribute he created in 2005 for his mother, a pianist, who died the previous year.
Royal Ballet – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – London
★★★✰✰ Wheeldon and his scenarist, Nicholas Wright, have made theatrical sense of a nonsensical children’s classic. This Alice, though, is a modern pantomime, not a classic ballet.
Australian Ballet – Nutcracker: The Story of Clara – Sydney
★★★★✰ “…the emotional impact of this uniquely Australian Nutcracker remains as powerful as ever.”
Australian Ballet – Nijinsky – Melbourne
★★★✰✰ Even after his death, Vaslav Nijinsky suffered from the power and control of others…
Australian Ballet – Cinderella – London
★★★✰✰ …the production lurches between down-to-earth Aussie niceness and the designer’s European conceits…
Australian Ballet – Swan Lake – London
★★★✰✰ Australian Ballet (AB) must surely be the only significant ballet company in the world with two Swan Lakes in their active repertoire. Strangely, the one we’ve seen before in Britain we have just been seeing again…
Houston Ballet – Romeo and Juliet – Melbourne
★★★★★ This R&J gives the audience so much to admire, so much to be immersed in, and so much to delight in and even laugh over.
Australian Ballet – Symphony in C, divertissements and new works bill – Sydney
★★★✰✰ The first thing to say about Symphony in C is that the Australian Ballet’s corps and soloists had been rehearsed and coached with technical perfection in mind and there was little to fault with their execution of the steps.
Australian Ballet – Forgotten Land, In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated and DGV: Danse a grande vitesse – Sydney
★★★★✰ In music, mood and dynamics the Australian Ballet’s new triple bill, Vitesse, represents three elements, water, fire and air.
Australian Ballet – The Sleeping Beauty – Melbourne
With a feast of baroque extravagance that would please the Sun King himself David McAllister’s new Sleeping Beauty for the Australian Ballet is destined for a long life in the company’s repertoire.
A Heads-Up on Queensland Ballet, La Sylphide and company director Li Cunxin
Jann Parry on the award winning Peter Schaufuss “La Sylphide”, not seen in the UK in decades, and Li Cunxin’s Queensland Ballet who are bringing it to London this summer. Includes an interview with Cunxin…
American Ballet Theatre – Cinderella – New York
Two 2 casts reeviewed – led out by Stella Abrera and a guesting Marianela Nunez. But the star of Cinderella is the ballet itself – Ashton’s tribute to Petipa, to silliness, and to the power of childlike wonder…
American Ballet Theatre – Giselle (Abrera debut) – New York
The American Ballet Theatre season continues with Giselle where Marina Harss saw Stella Abrera’s company debut. The response to the performance was understandably enthusiastic.
The Australian Ballet farewells Senior Artist Juliet Burnett
Onwards and Upwards we say to the great Juliet Burnett – who writes wonderful blogs for DanceTabs. Media Release from The Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet farewells Senior Artist Juliet Burnett After 12…
Australian Ballet – Ashton bill: The Dream, Monotones II, Symphonic Variations – Sydney
After the long famine, Ashton’s ballets made a welcome return this week with the company’s triple bill under the umbrella title, The Dream.
Australian Ballet – Giselle – Melbourne
Maina Gielgud first staged her production of Giselle for the Australian Ballet in 1986…
