Q: What have you learned about Petipa from the notations? Ans: Looking at the notations changed my taste. Honestly, I just can’t stand seeing productions of the classics any more, because I know how far it is from Petipa’s intentions...
Tag - Bronislava Nijinska
Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer first put their reconstruction of "The Rite of Spring" on Rio de Janeiro Ballet in 1995. This year they went back to put it on again - this is what happened...
American Ballet Theatre – Les Sylphides, Pillar of Fire, Fancy Free, Theme and Variations – New York
There are times when a dance lover just can’t believe her good fortune and one of those times comes around once a year in New York...
The programme was so underwhelming that I went twice in succession, to see whether alternative casts could make a difference.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, is there a ballet choreographer working today who is more imaginative, more wholly himself, than Alexei Ratmansky?
Born in Paris in 1958, Isabelle Fokine is the daughter of Vitale Fokine and granddaughter of choreographer Mikhail Fokine. She is artistic director of the Fokine Estate Archive, which holds the worldwide copyright to his work.
Both as a tribute to Ashton and as a coming-out party, it’s hard to imagine how the festival could have gone better. The ballets are in good hands.
This company is the definition of esprit de corps, period.
...what joy to see a performance turn into a kind of rave, ...to feel the music overflow the boundaries of convention and habit and feel, well, intensely alive.
Closing the program is Kurt Jooss’s anti-war ballet from 1932,The Green Table, one of the greatest pieces of choreography ever created and still relevant after more than 80 years.
The highlight of the program was the seldom-performed Divertimento from “Le Baiser de la Fée”. It is a deceptively shadowy work, a fairy tale in the guise of a conventional divertissement.
Bausch is a mystery. To some, she represents the summit of poetry and expression, worthy of a cult-like following. Clearly, these dancers derive great emotional sustenance from performing her work. And it suits them. But, with the exception of Gillot’s solo and a few moments here and there, it left me cold.
It is a fine selection which illustrates the variety of the Royal’s heritage works, which must beg the question how well are they are danced now...
The exhibition ‘Monica Mason: A Life With The Royal Ballet‘ opened in February, but only last week did I see it properly – at a private view, which also happily involved some speeches and a party with a lot of old friends and colleagues of Monica Mason. A privilege to be there and nice to have free run of the house and the time to stand and stare at some scrummy pictures...
In a life at the BBC the director, Bob Lockyer, was an outstanding champion of dance for the camera. Now 70, he is still indefatigable in his enthusiasms
In format Suite en Blanc reminds me a little of Harald Lander's Etudes, and it certainly fulfils the same purpose in providing the company with a spectacular programme-closer. ENB may be going through a difficult period but they don't let it show on stage.
Monica Mason has had a unique career with The Royal Ballet, having worked with every previous Director of the Company. As her final Season as Director of The Royal Ballet begins to draw to a close, the Royal Opera House Collections Spring/Summer 2012 exhibition examines and celebrates her 54 years with the Company.