Svetlana Zakharova – Modanse: Gabrielle Chanel, Come un Respiro – London
★★★✰✰ Stunning images of Bolshoi ballerina Svetlana Zakahrova dressed as Coco Chanel whetted the appetite for the London Premiere of her latest how, Modanse.
Royal Ballet – Bernstein Centenary: Yugen, The Age of Anxiety, Corybantic Games – London
★★★✰✰ Leonard Bernstein wrote (in 1949): “I have a deep suspicion that every work I write, for whatever medium, is really theatre music in some way.’ Many choreographers have taken up the challenge, though his quasi-metaphysical musings have usually eluded them: dance is more corporeal than music.
MacMillan Celebrations – Le Baiser de la fee (SB), Concerto (BRB), Jeux (RB) – London
In the first of the mixed bills celebrating Kenneth MacMillan’s ballets, 25 years after his death, “Le Baiser de la fée” intrigued me because the questions it posed about his development as a choreographer…
Interview – Robert Barnett, former New York City Ballet dancer and longtime Artistic Director of Atlanta Ballet
Robert Barnett joined New York City Ballet in 1949. In those early years he worked closely with Balanchine and Robbins particularly before going on to direct Atlanta Ballet. Now 91 he is still actively involved in dance and passing on all he knows…
Nadia Nerina and Isabel Rawsthorne exhibitions at the Royal Opera House
Rawsthorne was painted by André Derain and Pablo Picasso, and later by Francis Bacon. She was the inspiration for Alberto Giacometti’s etiolated sculptures of walking figures…
Remembering Peter Darrell – Scotland’s Dance Pioneer (1929-1987)
As Clement Crisp wrote after Darrell’s death: ‘His ballets are true and fascinating mirrors of their age’. Timing a revival is always tricky. Would we want to see his Beatles ballet, Mods and Rockers (1963), again?
Monica Mason: A Life With The Royal Ballet Exhibition
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…
Monica Mason: A Life With The Royal Ballet – Exhibition
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.
