Jann Parry with some thoughts on the Darcey Bussell gala to raise funds for British Ballet and featuring Ballet Black, Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, New Adventures, Northern Ballet, Rambert2, Scottish Ballet and The Royal Ballet.
Tag - Darcey Bussell
We talk to Darcey Bussell about her upcoming British Ballet Charity Gala which takes place on the 3 June at the Royal Albert Hall and features an amazing array of dance talent from Ballet Black, Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, New Adventures, Northern Ballet, Rambert, Scottish Ballet and The Royal Ballet...
★★★★✰ George Balanchine's "Stravinsky Violin Concerto" has just been streamed by NYCB - Jann Parry on a complex and effervesent masterwork, if Balanchine stated that it was simply his response to Stravinsky’s music...
Dutch National Ballet, under director Ted Brandsen, have made a splendid response to COVID-19, streaming 8 new digital dances in the last 3 months. Graham Watts on many interesting and absorbing works, varying from ★★✰✰✰ to ★★★★★
★★★★✰ The recording reveals how unusual the choreography is, as it was in 1965... Dancers in pointe shoes have to adapt to flexed feet, flat-footed parallel positions, torsos bent forward, elbows and wrists held at angles.
The achievements of RAD over the past hundred years are brought together in an impressive new book, published this month...
★★★★✰ The Royal Ballet did themselves a lot of good with the last new bill of the season - a one-off celebration of Margot Fonteyn. There was much to be reminded of and be proud of.
Jasper Conran is producing new designs for Christopher Wheeldon’s "Within the Golden Hour", to be premiered by the Royal Ballet on the 8 May 2019. Jann Parry talks to Conran about the designs and his earlier and extensive work for David Bintley at Birmingham Royal Ballet…
★★★★✰ Now that we are all one more Nutcracker nearer death, as weary critic Richard Buckle used to bemoan, the Royal Ballet has given us a wintry bonne bouche of ballets to savour.
Jann Parry talks to the recently promoted Mayara Magri at an important time - she is about to make her debut as Gamzatti in The Royal Ballet's production of La Bayadere - her first major and leading role in the company she joined 6 years ago...
Scottish Ballet have just announced plans for their Fiftieth Anniversary in 2019, including three world premieres - we have the full press release and touch-base with CEO/Artistic Director Christopher Hampson about the celebrations and what happens beyond...
We talk to Jenna Lee about her work - The Four Seasons - for New English Ballet Theatre's autumn tour this September and October. That and about her wider choreographic practice...
★★★★✰ Sylvia makes a welcome return to the repertoire, reacquainting dancers and audiences with Ashton’s sensibility and complex choreography. It’s a joy but not a masterpiece, as he well knew...
★★★★✰ Nafisah Baba is the BBC Young Dancer for 2017. The 20 year-old contemporary dancer from West London won the award with a diverse trio of dances that grew stronger through the rounds.
★★★★✰ ...the event is less about showing off the talents of dancers and their teachers than celebrating their hard work and dedication.
His is an insider’s account, complete with waspish comments and cameos of the famous people he encountered...
★★★✰✰ The Joffrey Ballet Concert Group, a pre-professional troupe of young dancers under the direction of David Robertson, performed a mixed but very split bill on Thursday night, roughly dividing the six-work program into two moods: spring/summer and dark and stormy.
David Drew, for 56 years a member of The Royal Ballet, has died after a long battle with illness. He described himself as one of a ‘bridge generation’ of dancers. The longevity of his career meant that he worked with many figures from the Ballets Russees – but also taught many dancers and choreographers working today.
Ballet Estable del Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires recently lived streamed Ashton's "Sylvia" from their home theatre. Graham Watts tuned in from a remote North Norfolk - it's a small world...
I've never been to Dance Proms at the Royal Albert Hall before. Which is amazing given it has a cast of over 400 dancers, has been running since 2011 and, as I discovered, is such an uplifting and feel-good affair.