Like ENB at large, the eight finalists for 2015 are a noticeably international bunch, representing Germany, America, Ukraine, Brazil, China and the UK between them.
Tag - Liam Scarlett
San Francisco Ballet's Program 4 is a double bill coupling a welcome return of Robbins' Dances at a Gathering with a Liam Scarlett's Hummingbird.
Both Royal Ballet premieres, one by Kim Brandstrup, the other by Liam Scarlett, were surely keepers, bound to be seen again.
Full press release of English National Ballet's 2015/16 Season.
On the eve of opening the latest Royal Ballet season of 'Onegin' Thiago Soares talks about one of his most inspirational roles, and a few other things too...
Lynette Halewood with her personal selection of London dance memories this last year…
Following 3 years directing Royal New Zealand Ballet, Ethan Stiefel is now back in New York - which is where Marina Harss caught up with him...
The programme was so underwhelming that I went twice in succession, to see whether alternative casts could make a difference.
Gallery by Dave Morgan...
Critics have compared the new Liam Scarlett to Jerome Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering; if so, it’s as if Dances had been set in an unhappy corner of the planet, for a group of lost souls...
Liam Scarlett's "With a Chance of Rain" premiere - It seemed Marcelo Gomes and Hee Seo might never detach from each other in the final pas de deux...
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, is there a ballet choreographer working today who is more imaginative, more wholly himself, than Alexei Ratmansky?
It’s as pointless to complain about ballet galas as it is to grumble about the weather. They serve a purpose...
I like McNally's sense of fun but I also like this more serious side because the movement is also fresh and unpredictable. Of all the ballet choreographers coming through I think hers is one of the most original voices.
Audience applause during the evening recognised that Scarlett’s Hummingbird was the starry centrepiece of the three Paris premieres.
Question... What's the biggest audience noise you will ever hear in ballet? Answer... The roar of the audience at the end of the Royal Ballet School show at the Opera House.
All up this was a solid night and a good complement to ENB's 'Lest We Forget' (WW1) bill that was so recently on the main Barbican stage. But I hope that next year they return to a more open choice on what choreographers can do and also concentrate on choreography rather than include musical soiree interludes.
Gallery by Dave Morgan...
It's always good to get back to mixed programmes after one of the Royal Ballet's long runs of blockbusters, and better still when the first item on the bill is Balanchine's timeless Serenade.
I thoroughly applaud the move to widen the choreographic vocabulary of what they present and I hope they can tour such a bill in future. A bravo to David Nixon (AD) and Mark Skipper (Chief Exec) for making this happen...