Royal Ballet School – Summer Show, ROH Main Stage – London
★★★★✰ The choice of works emphasised ensembles more than individuals. It was interesting to see large numbers of young men dancing together, as well as a more usual female corps de ballet.
Royal Ballet School – Holland Park bill (mainly Upper School) – London
★★★★✰ The show overall gave us a good slice of what ballet is in 2019, and just how adaptable the students need to be these days – exciting times for them and exciting for us in the audience as well.
Royal Ballet – Within the Golden Hour, Medusa, Flight Pattern – London
★★★✰✰ A very mixed bill… Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Medusa (★★✰✰✰), Christopher Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour (★★★★✰) and Crystal Pite’s Flight Pattern (★★★★✰)
Catching up with Morgann Runacre-Temple – work for Scottish Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet and more
A busy time for Morgann Runacre-Temple with work for Scottish Ballet’s Digital Season, Stuttgart Ballet’s Noverre Young Choreographers Evening, English National Ballet and also her recent Northern Ballet commission will be touring again. She stops to answer 5 questions…
Gallery – Royal Ballet in Medusa, Within the Golden Hour, Flight Pattern
Works by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Christopher Wheeldon and Crystal Pite. Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago – Jardí Tancat, N.N.N.N., Lickety-Split, Grace Engine – San Francisco
★★★★✰ I only wish Hubbard Street’s Berkeley run could have been longer than three performances, and based on the audience’s cheers and applause, I don’t think I was alone.
Memorable Performances of 2018 – London
Semperoper Ballett Dresden were another new visitor in the summer, with a programme of Forsythe works, some not seen here before. But Forsythe is a theme this year in himself.
2018 National Dance Awards – Announcement of Nominations
The Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle is pleased to announce the nominations for the 19th National Dance Awards…
5 Questions to Dane Hurst about his creative life and dancing in Didy Veldman’s The Knot…
I’m really enjoying being different things throughout the year. Sometimes a dancer, then choreographer and teacher and most recently I had a go at acting again in a feature film by Clara Van Gool…
World Ballet Day, 2 October 2018 – an insight into what The Royal Ballet will be doing
Jann Parry talks to The Royal Ballet about what’s happening on World Ballet Day this year and just what it means for some of those involved… Kristen McNally, James Hay and Assistant director Anthoula Syndica-Drummond.
Carlos Acosta – Dancer, Directer, Choreographer: ‘I am a man on a mission – I always have been’
“That’s what it’s always been about for me – the necessity to connect with an audience and express myself.”
Nederlands Dans Theater – Shoot the Moon, Woke up Blind, The Statement, Stop-Motion – London
★★★★✰ World-class dancers… it’s the dancers’ polish and power that raises all they do up another level.
Gallery – Nederlands Dans Theater in Stop-Motion and The Statement
Works by Crystal Pite, Sol Leon and Paul Lightfoot. Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
5 questions for Paul Lightfoot, Choreographer and Artistic Director of Nederlands Dans Theater
Nederlands Dans Theater is paying London’s Sadler’s Wells a short visit (26-29 June) with an interesting bill of works by Crystal Pite, Marco Goecke & the duo Paul Lightfoot & Sol Leon.
Paris Opera Ballet – Thierrée / Shechter / Pérez / Pite – Paris
★★★★✰ Crystal Pite’s work stands out as the crowd-pleaser. With huge cheers and applause, we rise to our feet for the dancers.
Royal Danish Ballet – The Queen of Spades – Copenhagen
★★★✰✰ The good news is that Queen of Spades is a good-looking crowd pleaser and the RDB dancers look fantastic in it – I can’t emphasise that enough. Also good that it’s a step up from his last commission, Frankenstein – thank goodness, really.
English National Ballet – Voices of America bill – works by Forsythe, Robbins & Barton – London
★★★★✰ Altogether, a cunningly judged programme that shows off the company at its most engaging…
Ballet British Columbia – 16+ a room, Solo Echo, Bill – London
★★★✰✰ Crystal Pite’s Solo Echo, originally made for Nederlands Dans Theater, was the undoubted highlight of the evening. Built around two Brahms sonatas…
Interview – Emily Molnar, Ballet British Columbia’s artistic director, on their work and UK tour
Next month (March 2018) Ballet British Columbia, or Ballet BC as they are commonly known, tour the UK. Diane Parkes talks to artistic director Emily Molnar about the company and the works they are touring which includes a piece by the ultra-hot Crystal Pite…
