Royal Ballet – The Sleeping Beauty – London
★★★★✰ The Royal Ballet’s current production of The Sleeping Beauty, dating back to 2006, is a homage to Ninette de Valois and her faith that Marius Petipa’s Imperial Russian ballet should be the flagship of her British company.
Royal Ballet – The Firebird, A Month in the Country, Symphony in C – London
★★★★✰ Three short but densely packed ballets infused with a strong Russian flavour were at the heart of the Royal Ballet’s last bill of the season.
Seeta Patel – The Rite of Spring, Dance Dialogues – London
★★★✰✰ Rite of Spring: Through the perspective of a South Asian gaze, the brutality and finality of the original ballet’s pagan sacrifice is tempered by a rich spirituality and the optimistic suggestion of an after-life. It’s still scary but less barbaric.
Royal Ballet – Sleeping Beauty – London
★★★★✰ The grand pas de deux was the triumphant highlight of the fairytale festivities. Hay expressed the prince’s pride and pleasure in his variations; Takada was demure and regal in hers…
New York City Ballet – The Most Incredible Thing (premiere), Polaris, The Blue of the Distance, Common Ground, Estancia – New York
★★★✰✰ “Incredible is Peck’s first narrative, and this fact was obvious Tuesday night, particularly in the opening scenes which lacked clarity…”
Rambert Dance Company – What Wild Ecstasy, SUB, Faun, Art of Touch – London
Rambert… offers a mix of new commissions with rarely-seen work from their archives. Some items had much more impact than others, though not necessarily the ones you might imagine from the programme.
