Gallery – Royal Ballet’s Marianela Nuñez & Vadim Muntagirov in Don Quixote
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Sadler’s Wells Sampled, 2019 – London
★★★✰✰ Once a year Sadler’s Wells puts on Sampled, a pick and mix of the types of dance you might see at the venue. The front stalls seats are taken out, and standing in that area is only a fiver, with cheap tickets in general.
Gallery – Sadler’s Wells Sampled 2019
Foteini Christofilopoulou photographs Sadler’s Wells Sampled – featuring Uchenna Dance, Mavin Khoo, Semperoper Ballett, Rambert2, Patricia Guerrero and BirdGang.
Gandini Juggling & Alexander Whitley – Spring – London
★★★✰✰ Choreographed juggling is by definition a one-trick pony although in the hands of Gandini Juggling, inspired by the imaginative choreography of Alexander Whitley, the potential of that artform appears limitless.
Peeping Tom – Father (Vader) – London
★★★★✰ The stand-out moments in this show came in dynamic bursts of extraordinary movement in which the form of propulsion seemed to be any part of the body but the feet.
Alessandra Ferri, Herman Cornejo and Bruce Levingston – TRIO ConcertDance – London
★★★★✰ A harmonious blending of music and dance, it proved seventy-five minutes of non-stop bliss!
English National Ballet – Manon – London
★★★★✰ The entire cast is committed to the MacMillan idea of everyone having their own character and story, and the result is a richly detailed picture of the conflicts between poverty and wealth, love and lust.
Gallery – Royal Ballet in Asphodel Meadows and The Two Pigeons
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Akram Khan Company – Until the Lions – London
★★★★✰ As an almost abstract dance work Until the Lions is outstanding, a spectacular collaboration between dancers, musicians, designers and technicians.
Uchenna Dance – Hansel & Gretel – London
★★★✰✰ Vicki Igbokwe’s bold dance retelling of the classic fairytale Hansel and Gretel has a sense of playfulness at its heart, and something of a political message for adults to chew on too.
Royal Ballet – Les Patineurs, Winter Dreams, The Concert – London
★★★★✰ Now that we are all one more Nutcracker nearer death, as weary critic Richard Buckle used to bemoan, the Royal Ballet has given us a wintry bonne bouche of ballets to savour.
Memorable Performances of 2018 – London
Semperoper Ballett Dresden were another new visitor in the summer, with a programme of Forsythe works, some not seen here before. But Forsythe is a theme this year in himself.
Gallery – Royal Ballet in Les Patineurs, Winter Dreams and The Concert
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Autumn delights: La fille mal gardée & The Nutcracker – London & Birmingham
★★★★✰ I look forward to the changes inevitably coming to BRB, but I can’t believe any new director will turn their back on such repertoire gems as La fille mal gardee and their Peter Wright Nutcracker.
Forced Entertainment – That Night Follows Day – London
★★★★✰ Performed by a cast of seventeen children ranging from ages 5 – 15, Forced Entertainment’s delightfully humorous and poignant work reveals how adults shape children through their projection of values and beliefs.
New Adventures – Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake – London
★★★★✰ Matthew Bourne has reworked his famous “Swan Lake” and it’s now touring. Graham Watts wrestles with iconic and uber definitions in a long look at a much-loved work.
Gallery – English National Ballet in Nutcracker
With Rina Kanehara and Jeffrey Cirio in the lead roles. Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Close up with Darcey Bussell and Ashton’s Sylvia at the Royal Opera House Cinema Festival
To celebrate 10 year of live relays the Royal Opera House is hosting a Cinema Festival of past works in the newly rebuilt Linbury Studio Theatre. Jann Parry was there for the screening of Ashton’s Sylvia (recorded in 2005) and which included Darcey Bussell reminiscing about dancing the lead role…
Luke Brown Dance – For You I Long the Longest: Second Self, Princess – London
★★★★✰ Luke Brown Dance’s For You I Long the Longest is an intense and intimate work that needs to be experienced in a small, contained theatre.
