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.
Images Ballet Company – Interplay, Mirrors, On Lineage, Meadowdown – London
★★★✰✰ Images has done an excellent job of commissioning appropriate, innovative choreographers, allowing the company to exceed their expectations…
AVA Dance Company – ORIGINS Festival: No Woman’s Land – London
★★★★✰ Ava Dance Company’s essay on the tribulations of the Inuit people from the northern-most reaches of Canada is appropriately a mix of dance theatre and spoken text…
Junior Ballett Zürich – Young Talent Festival: Echo of Elements, Wounded, Submerge – London
★★★✰✰ The twelve dancers are a mix of nationalities, attractive, lively and energetic, fortunately possessing the stamina required to get through a demanding programme.
Lost Dog – Juliet & Romeo – London
★★★★✰ Juliet and Romeo is a clever work on many different levels.
Mari – a film by Georgia Parris, Bobbi Jene Smith and Maxine Doyle
★★★✰✰ Mari sets out to examine the complex relationship between different generations of a family and uses contemporary dance in a sort of parallel world to express an emotional history.
Company of Elders – Dare I Speak, Natural 2019 – London
★★★★✰ Over the years that I’ve seen them, this extraordinary company of quirky individuals have become more adventurous about what they perform and flexible in how they perform…
Ballet Black – The Suit, Ingoma – London
★★★★✰ Merging these two works onto the same bill created a powerful double-header of impressive and arresting dance theatre.
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 in The Firebird, A Month in the Country, Symphony in C
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
San Francisco Ballet – Your Flesh Shall Be a Great Poem, Bound To, Anima Animus – London
★★★★✰ It’s been a treat to see so much new work made specifically for a company. The dancers are free, unburdened by the weight of history and expectation, with no comparisons to be made to famous past performers or interpretations. It’s all theirs.
Gallery – San Francisco Ballet in Your Flesh Shall Be a Great Poem and Anima Animus
Works by Trey McIntyre and David Dawson. Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
English National Ballet – Cinderella – London
★★★★✰ A spectacular show, full of colour, humour and romance…
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…
San Francisco Ballet – Bespoke, Hummingbird and Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming – London
★★★★✰ the overall impression was of the wholly American spirit of the company – peppy, vivacious, determined and running at full-tilt.
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.
San Francisco Ballet – The Infinite Ocean, Snowblind, Björk Ballet – London
★★★★✰ Ballet companies across the globe are in a new age of commissioning …but none can match the pioneering zeal of this, the oldest American ballet company.
Faso Danse Théâtre – Kalakuta Republik – London
★★★✰✰ Without help, which was certainly not forthcoming in the programme, most of the action was a mystery in relation to Kuti and the Kalakuta Republik.
Gallery – San Francisco Ballet in The Infinite Ocean, Snowblind and Björk Ballet
Works by Edwaard Liang, Cathy Marston and Arthur Pita. Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
San Francisco Ballet – Alexei Ratmansky’s Shostakovich Trilogy – London
★★★★✰ A gleaming triptych of imaginative and remarkably demanding choreography. The production is textured in every aspect, plumbing deep wells of emotion and revelling in a multiplicity of tones, tempers and movement styles.
