Royal Ballet – Coppélia – London
★★★★✰ The dancing is so enjoyable, the comedy so appealing, that any flaws in the story telling are easily overlooked.
Gallery – Francesca Hayward and Gary Avis in a scene from the Royal Ballet’s Coppélia
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Royal Ballet – The Sleeping Beauty – London
★★★★✰ The Royal Ballet’s current production of The Sleeping Beauty, dating back to 2006, is a homage to Ninette de Valois and her faith that Marius Petipa’s Imperial Russian ballet should be the flagship of her British company.
Royal Ballet – Concerto, Enigma Variations, Raymonda Act III – London
★★★★✰ It is all too easy to assume that the first triple bill of the Royal Ballet’s autumn season celebrates its creative heritage from the 1960s. In fact, two of the ballets were made for other companies…
Royal Ballet – Merce Cunningham celebration: Cross Currents, Monotones II, Everyone Keeps Me – London
★★★★★ Quite some achievement by Pam Tanowitz, to have followed treasured works by Cunningham and Ashton with one that pays homage to both, yet stands on its own as her distinctive tapestry of dance.
Gallery – Royal Ballet Merce Cunningham celebration – works by Cunningham, Ashton and Pam Tanowitz
Featuring works by Merce Cunningham, Frederick Ashton and Pam Tanowitz. Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
ROH Young Talent Festival Symposium on Exposure, Access and Opportunity
The Young Talent Festival at London’s Royal Opera House included an important Symposium, hosted by Theresa Ruth Howard, under the title “Exposure, Access and Opportunity: Exploring the Cultural Barriers to Ballet.” Deborah Weiss with a comprehensive report on a stimulating event…
Royal Ballet – Margot Fonteyn, A Celebration – London
★★★★✰ 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.
Gallery – Royal Ballet’s Margot Fonteyn: A Celebration
The Royal Ballet pays tribute to its Prima Ballerina Assoluta, Margot Fonteyn, with a special celebratory performance to mark the centenary of her birth. Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Royal Ballet – The Firebird, A Month in the Country, Symphony in C – London
★★★★✰ Three short but densely packed ballets infused with a strong Russian flavour were at the heart of the Royal Ballet’s last bill of the season.
Merce Cunningham Trust – Night of 100 Solos, Centennial Event – London
★★★★✰ A quote from The Observer’s dance critic, Nigel Gosling, in 1964: ‘Merce Cunningham and his company have burst on the British scene like a bomb …heart-warming proof that here is an art with a future…’
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.
Royal Ballet – Mayerling (Hirano, Osipova) – London
★★★★✰ Osipova is lethally orgasmic… Never has MacMilllan’s choreography for the death duet seemed so astounding as in her account of it.
Dance@TheGrange – Curated by Wayne McGregor & Edward Watson – Grange Festival, Hampshire
★★★★✰ McGregor’s company dancers (in Bach Forms) brought a surging energy, buoying up jewel-like moments from the Royal Ballet stars…
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 Ballet – Swan Lake (Scarlett premiere) – London
★★★★★ Liam Scarlett has devised a visual and emotional treat for audiences, fully justifying Kevin O’Hare’s faith in him as a director and choreographer.
Viviana Durante Company – Kenneth MacMillan: Steps Back in Time bill – London
★★★★✰ All credit to Viviana Durante (supported by Royal Ballet, Ballet Black and Scottish Ballet dancers) for contributing to the 25th anniversary of Kenneth MacMillan’s death with recreations of his early work.
Gallery – Viviana Durante Company in Kenneth MacMillan: Steps Back in Time
Works performed: House of Birds, Danses Concertantes and Laiderette by dancers from The Royal Ballet, Scottish Ballet and Ballet Black. Gallery by Dave Morgan…
Royal Ballet / Charlotte Edmonds – Piggy in the Middle, Sink or Swim – London
★★★✰✰ Piggy in the Middle is, in part, Edmonds’ tribute to Kenneth MacMillan, the 25th anniversary of whose death has been marked during the Royal Ballet’s 2017/2018 season.
Royal Ballet – Manon – London
★★★★✰ It’s a myth that Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon was ever regarded as a failure. Critics may initially have had reservations but audiences have enjoyed it from its first season in 1974 throughout its many revivals…
