
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…
![Lusymay Di Stefano and Claudio Coviello in [I]Giselle[/I].© Marco Brescia and Rudy Amisano, Teatro alla Scala. (Click image for larger version)](https://cvj1llwqcyay0evy-zippykid.netdna-ssl.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…

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…

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.

Royal Danish Ballet – La Bayadere – Copenhagen
So far as I know, no major company has ever before attempted a time-shifted Bayadère, so Hübbe had the whole of history to pick from. He chose the later years of the British Raj…

Royal Danish Ballet – Thomas Lund’s farewell: The Lesson/La Sylphide – Copenhagen
Several times during the evening I wondered how much anyone who happened never to have seen Lund before would have understood about him from this performance. They would have learnt about his peerless Bournonville technique, and about his ability to get under the skin of the character he’s playing…

Royal Ballet – La Sylphide & Ballo della Regina – London
Balanchine famously described a choreographer’s job as being like a chef’s, and his Ballo della Regina perfectly fulfils the role of amuse-bouche in the Royal Ballet’s latest double bill, waking us up and sharpening our appetites for the more serious fare of Bournonville’s lovely La Sylphide. It’s the fourth ballet the company has tried out in this role and I think it’s the most successful.

Nina Ananiashvili – 30 years on stage gala – Tbilisi
So what has made her a ballet legend? The simple fact that she lives, breathes and demonstrates the finest techniques of Russian classical ballet. She is fastidious in her footwork, has the most beautiful pliable back, expressive arms and has perfect proportions and great sensitivity…