San Francisco Ballet – Opening Night Gala – San Francisco
★★★★✰ ‘Spellbound’ delivered in every regard – opulent grandeur, terrific people watching and above all, marvelous dance.
Some Memorable Performances of 2019 – New York
I don’t really believe in lists, but it’s admittedly fun to look back over the year and reflect on moments that have stayed with me. So here they are, in no particular order…
Bolshoi Ballet – The Bright Stream – London
★★★★★ A wildly surreal comic turn involves a dog riding a bicycle, both cunningly choreographed. He’s actually a tractor driver in disguise, disrupting sexual assignations.
Norwegian National Ballet 2 – ROH, Young Talent Festival, Quint Bill – London
★★★✰✰ Norwegian National Ballet 2 at the ROH Young Talent Festival with 5 works – Departures, Valse-Fantaisie, Pas de Sept from A Folk Tale, Some See Stages, Left from Write
American Ballet Theatre – Harlequinade – New York
★★★★★ To my eye, this Harlequinade may be the most well-rounded of Ratmansky’s historically-minded stagings of Petipa.
Interview: Thinking About Petipa – A Conversation with Alexei Ratmansky
Marina Harss talks to a legend about another legend and the greatest classical choreographer of them all – Marius Petipa. Full of interesting insights…
2018 English National Ballet Emerging Dancer Competition – performance and results
For the first time, English National Ballet’s competition for its junior members was held in the capacious London Coliseum, where the company has been performing The Sleeping Beauty…
English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer 2018 Competition – 5 Questions to 6 Finalists
English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer Competition is unique in British ballet in throwing the spotlight on more junior dancers or “tomorrow’s stars” as ENB put it. This year’s competition is on the 11 June and ahead of the that we talk to the finalists – Precious Adams, Fernando Carratalá Coloma, Giorgio Garrett, Daniel McCormick, Francesca Velicu and Connie Vowles…
Royal Danish Ballet – Raymonda – Copenhagen
★★★✰✰ All up, I think this production demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of “Raymonda” as a ballet. It certainly is a fabulous looking (and listening) calling card which might tour well…
Carlos Acosta at IDFB – A Classical Farewell – Birmingham
★★★★✰ Winks, finger wags, flamboyant leaps in a criminally short leather skirt – Carlos Acosta gives the people what they want in this winsome bill, a mix of variations he’s assembled to mark his retirement after more than 25 years on stage.
![Lusymay Di Stefano and Claudio Coviello in [I]Giselle[/I].© Marco Brescia and Rudy Amisano, Teatro alla Scala. (Click image for larger version)](https://149359931.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/mb-giselle-lusymay-di-stefano-claudio-coviello-death_360-300x180.jpg)
Ballet at the Hong Kong Arts Festival 2014: La Scala Ballet in Giselle & Scottish Ballet in Highland Fling
The Festival kicked off with two classical ballet companies presenting very different versions of the oldest and most celebrated Romantic ballets in the repertoire: a classic rendering of Giselle and a radically different take on La Sylphide…
Royal Danish Ballet – Napoli – Copenhagen
Most of this run of performances was sold out, or very nearly so, so the Copenhagen audience evidently appreciates what Hubbe is doing. To me, though, this latest revision of Napoli felt like a step too far…
Susan Jones – Ballet Mistress, American Ballet Theatre
My father asked my original teacher in Rockville, Ms. Hood, whether it was viable for me to become a dancer, and she said she thought I could, even though I wasn’t blessed with beautiful legs and feet. But I had a lot of other assets…
Bolshoi Ballet – The Flames of Paris – London
“Alexei Ratmansky’s Flames of Paris is a lot like Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake…” starts Jann Parry’s review…
Alexei Ratmansky – Balletic Musings, a Continuing Conversation
Do you perceive a difference between the musicality of American dancers and that of Russian dancers? AR: There is a huge difference in the musicality. I often found Russian dancers unmusical… But they have other qualities…
Royal Ballet – Mayerling – Kobborg/Cojocaru farewell performances – London
Johan Kobborg and Alina Cojocaru said farewell to the Royal Ballet in Mayerling. Jann Parry was there for an emotional night, flower throw and standing ovation…
International Ballet Festival 2013 – Dance Open – St Petersburg
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…
Royal Danish Ballet – La Ventana, Kermesse in Bruges – Copenhagen
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.
Royal Ballet – Ashton Bill including Marguerite & Armand with Rojo and Polunin – London
But it was Rojo who really surprised me, with the most emotionally open performance I’ve ever seen from her. …a swansong, indeed: what a way to go!
San Francisco Ballet – 80th Season Gala Opening – San Francisco
Perhaps the best pas de deux of the evening, judging by the audience reaction, is one from Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain.
