Northern Ballet – The Kingdom of Back, Mamela…, The Shape of Sound – London
★★★✰✰ The works offer strong contrasts between the traditional story-telling strength of Northern Ballet and more abstract thematic dance.
Arthur Pita, Natalia Osipova and Jonathan Goddard – The Mother – London
★★★★✰ The Mother takes already dark source material (a Hans Christian Andersen tale) and plunges even deeper into the nightmare scenario it proposes, giving everything a convincing Russian twist along the way.
Northern Ballet – The Kingdom of Back, Mamela…, The Shape of Sound – Leeds
★★★★✰ A good night of new work for Leeds coupling a rising star from outside with local and much-loved company talent.
Arthur Pita – The Little Match Girl – London
★★★★★ Of all the shows I’ve seen this year this probably had the least dance content and yet as a package it really delivers on the wonder and thoughtful difference that theatre can make to all our lives. Charmed I was…
Royal Ballet – The Illustrated ‘Farewell’, The Wind, Untouchable – London
★★★✰✰ Kevin O’Hare is commissioning choreographers who want to make use of what the Opera House can offer; he’s not setting out to declare where ballet ought to be heading and he’s not playing safe.
San Francisco Ballet – Fusion, Salome (premiere), Fearful Symmetries – San Francisco
★★★★★ Pita’s Salome is pure postmodern dance-theater, and a five-star surprise on the Opera House stage.
Arthur Pita – The Little Match Girl – London
★★★★✰ The Little Match Girl is small-scale, but it’s pretty spectacular all the same – a sweet and witty alternative to the typical Christmas family fare.
Fall For Dance Festival – Program 2: Richard Alston, Aszure Barton, Wendy Whelan, Edward Watson, Grupo Corpo – New York
★★★✰✰ One of this recurring festival’s strongest selling selling points is the serendipity of its pairings. You pay $15 and get a grab-bag of dance in return. You’re bound to like something.
Arthur Pita – The Little Match Girl – London
It all makes for a captivating hour that will surely bring a tear to your eye.
Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev – Solo for Two: Zeitgeist, Mozart & Salieri, Facada – New York
Dancers should be allowed to have fun, especially when they’ve worked as hard as Ivan Vasiliev and Natalia Osipova…
Ardani 25 Dance Gala – Zeitgeist, Tristesse, Facada – London
…it certainly showed that Osipova is a lightning bolt which can illuminate and energise everything she appears in.
Whelan/Watson – Other Stories – London
The long awaited collaboration between Wendy Whelan and Edward Watson has just been premiered at the Royal Opera House. Jann Parry on an interesting night…
Natalia Osipova, Ivan Vasiliev, Edward Watson and Marcelo Gomes star in ‘Ardani 25 Dance Gala’. 17/18 July 2015, London Coliseum
Natalia Osipova, Ivan Vasiliev, Edward Watson and Marcelo Gomes star in ARDANI 25 DANCE GALA Friday 17th and Saturday 18th July 2015, London Coliseum This summer’s hot dance ticket will be the ARDANI…
Questions and Dancers, dance for the young – Sally Marie and John Ross – London
I’m a sucker for a children’s show. The audience are just as demanding as grownups but there is the additional frisson of not knowing what they will get up to if excited… or just bored stiff.
Arthur Pita – The Little Match Girl – London
Arthur Pita The Little Match Girl London, Lillian Baylis Studio 13 December 2014 www.arthurpita.com www.sadlerswells.com This Christmas family show in the cosy space of the Lillian Baylis Studio (at Sadler’s Wells) is a…
Ballet Black – A Dream Within a Midsummer Night’s Dream, Limbo, Two of a Kind – London
Now in its thirteenth year, Ballet Black’s specialness is not the colour of its performers’ skin but the quality and quantity of the works its director, Cassa Pancho, commissions: over 30 new ballets to date. Where else could ballet dancers experience such a cornucopia of creativity?
Arthur Pita – The Metamorphosis – New York
The Contortions of Contemporary Ballet, Put to Use… for a while.
