Balanchine famously described a choreographer's job as being like a chef's, and his Ballo della Regina perfectly fulfils the role of amuse-bouche in the Royal Ballet's latest double bill, waking us up and sharpening our appetites for the more serious fare of Bournonville's lovely La Sylphide. It's the fourth ballet the company has tried out in this role and I think it's the most successful.
Tag - London
27 pictures by Dave Morgan...
Rambert... offers a mix of new commissions with rarely-seen work from their archives. Some items had much more impact than others, though not necessarily the ones you might imagine from the programme.
27 Pictures by Dave Morgan
The 16 entrants competing for The Place Prize for dance, sponsored by Bloomberg, have been awarded a total commission fund of £100,000.
If this were a danced game of “Call My Bluff” then Linehan provides a 45-minute description of the word ‘Aporia’. But, if anyone turned up expecting to see zombies, they would have been very disappointed.
27 Pictures by Dave Morgan
What a ridiculous position we are in when 80% of professional dancers suffer an injury each year that stops them working... With so many dancers being touched by injury each year this initiative should have a profound impact on the profession and seems long overdue...
The dancers and musicians of Ballet Revolución are superb and this will be a fun evening for anyone who wants to see a Now That’s What I Call Music compilation album brought to life by K-Tel in a toe-tapping cabaret dance show.
All power to LCB for doing what they do so very well and presenting young dancers in such a professional context.
That said, the narrative is graphic and gripping. Scottish Ballet’s dancers prove themselves dramatic actors in supporting roles as well as principal ones....
Every review of La Fille mal Gardée should start with an acknowledgement that, however excellent the performance may have been, the greatest credit belongs to Frederick Ashton, who more than 50 years ago put this happy masterpiece together in a few weeks of cheerful collaboration with his dancers.
21 pictures by Dave Morgan…
In a life at the BBC the director, Bob Lockyer, was an outstanding champion of dance for the camera. Now 70, he is still indefatigable in his enthusiasms
27 pictures by Dave Morgan…
In 1984 Fosythe's vocabulary was much more strongly rooted in ballet: though it is spikily aggressive and legs are flung upwards over beyond the perpendicular, it is not as twisted and distorted as it later became. It is cool, rigorous, fiercely disciplined and blazing with adrenalin.
27 Pictures by Dave Morgan
Bob Lockyer must be truly proud of his birthday gift: not a dud amongst the commissions he has brought about, sending three young choreographers on their way to a promising future.
I want to bring more of the public to the artform and see the enjoyment it brings. I suppose I believe I have something to say!
'Sweet Violets', though over-ambitious, is the best stab at a psychologically complex narrative ballet the company has commissioned for years.