Richard Alston Dance Company – Final Edition – London
★★★★✰ 8th March at Sadler’s Wells was the last time we were able to see Richard Alston’s work performed by his own company of dancers. Jann Parry with a full and perceptive review of Alston’s latest work and last company show.
Mark Bruce Company – Return to Heaven – London
★★★✰✰ Trying to understand a holistic approach to the narrative was like compiling a jigsaw where some of the pieces are missing and others don’t fit.
Royal Ballet – Swan Lake – London
★★★★✰ Marianela Nunez and Vadim Muntagirov’s account of Swan Lake is spellbinding… if Scarlett’s revision of the 1895 scenario makes even less sense than the original.
Crystal Pite, Jonathan Young, Kidd Pivot – Revisor – London
★★★★✰ Revisor is a strange and complicated piece of dance theatre. Watching it requires peeling away the many layers that constitute the work and it feels like trying to find someone hidden under many different disguises.
Linda Hayford and Kloé Dean – AlShe/Me and Man Up Aerowaves 2 bill – London
★★★★✰ Family ties were explored in two markedly different ways in this hip hop dance double bill.
Scottish Dance Theatre presents Joan Clevillé – Antigone, Interrupted – London
★★★★✰ Joan Clevillé’s direction deserves much praise. A solo show for more than an hour on such an esoteric subject is a difficult framework to sustain and Clevillé’s structure is expertly paced with quick transitions and surprising interludes.
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan – 13 Tongues & Dust – London
★★★★✰ Although starkly different in theme and intention, both 13 Tongues and Dust showcased the company’s unique blend of movement, drawn from classical and modern traditions…
Viviana Durante Company – Isadora Now triple bill – London
★★★★✰ Isadora Duncan’s spirit has been honoured, even if the impact of her presence remains elusive.
Gallery – Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan in 13 Tongues & Dust
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou.
Alina Cojocaru – Alina at Sadler’s Wells – London
★★★★✰ Alina Cojocaru’s choice of works for her brief season at Sadler’s Wells provided an insight into her priorities as she reflected on her career: live music-making and dance-making that has something to say.
Gallery – Viviana Durante Company, Isadora Now triple bill
Featuring Dance of the Furies, Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan & Unda. Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou.
Kate Prince and Sting – Message in a Bottle – London
★★★✰✰ The idea of setting a story about a refugee family to the songs of Sting was inevitably an enforced marriage of his diverse lyrics with a narrative for which they were never intended.
The Royal Ballet – The Cellist (premiere), Dances at a Gathering – London
★★★✰✰ In The Cellist, Cathy Marston has taken on a challenging subject for her first commission for the Royal Opera House stage: the real-life story of a much-loved musician Jacqueline Du Pré…
Acosta Danza – Up Close bill – London
★★★✰✰ This was indeed a case of Up Close and personal with five intimate pieces variously dosed with Cuban fire and flair…
Gallery – Royal Ballet in The Cellist and Dances at a Gathering
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Gallery – Acosta Danza in Up Close: Mundo Interpretado and Two
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Gallery – Russell Maliphant & Dana Fouras in The Space Between (Maliphantworks3)
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Russell Maliphant – Maliphantworks3: The Space Between, Film One & Two, Duet – London
★★★★✰ In this magical programme of two duets and two short films, Maliphant is investigating weightlessness – not so much defying gravity as conjuring its non-existence.
