★★✰✰✰ ...an intriguing idea inflated into unwieldy modern dance-theatre.
Tag - Marius Petipa
★★★★✰ It was a pleasure to see this company in such a smart and wide-ranging program. It was even more rewarding to see the Washington Ballet dancers masterly navigating the numerous challenges...
Meticulous reconstructions of Petipa, Cunningham, Graham, Taylor works are performance staples these days. Much rarer is a reconstruction like "Le Temple de la Gloire" (The Temple of Glory) a 1745 political opera-ballet with music by Jean-Philippe Rameau and a libretto by the philosopher Voltaire....
★★★★✰ The Bolshoi’s Don Quixote continues to delight for the exuberance and skill of its range of performers, with the corps de ballet and demi-soloists taking pride of place.
★★★✰✰ Murphy is a sensual Odette, something made all the more effective by Stearns’ tenderness.
★★★★✰ On opening night, Svetlana Lunkina in the title role gave one of those unique performances in which the ballerina completely disappears into her heroine, putting her entire living self into the role.
★★★★✰ "Ratmansky’s new staging is a Beauty like you have never seen before: it uncovers the original ballet’s genuine beauty, which faded over the years under the clutter of modern revisions."
In the world of opera, dance has a rather low place on the totem pole. Music critics (and opera audiences) can be pretty dismissive...
This Nutcracker production has the best conclusion of any...
But no end of fine, or even inspired, performances can breathe life into this tired production
This handsomely-crafted and well-danced Swan Lake marked an important milestone for the Washington Ballet and proved a huge achievement for its artistic director Septime Webre.
Both nights that I attended were blessed with an exquisite Cinderella. Gillian Murphy gave this production a beating heart with her tenderly expressive and incisive performance...
In all, this was a tremendously entertaining and well-received program; but at the same time it left an unsettling impression that the Russian company is holding on to its eminent past with all its might, relying heavily on well-worn
...Kochetkova and Luiz told the tale beautifully...
We catch up with Septime Webre, choreographer and artistic director of Washington Ballet. So what makes him get up in the morning? Oksana Khadarina finds out...
David Hallberg is a rarity in today’s classical ballet. Tall, lean and strikingly handsome, with pure classical line and impeccable dancing prowess, he is a genuine danseur noble.
Margaret Willis has been busy: in St. Petersburg at the Dance Open Festival Gala and 2 days later in Moscow at the Soul of Dance Ballet Gala. And important awards were given at both...
The gala formula really worked. An eclectic selection of dances – six duets and three short ballets – offered something for almost every taste...
The Sunday matinee performance I attended had all the prerequisites for huge success, featuring world-class principals Paloma Herrera and Ivan Vasiliev, plus a superb supporting cast.
Throughout the piece, Bourne’s choreography is highly theatrical and vigorous but only intermittently compelling ...the chief pleasure of the evening was the highly-spirited and convincing performance of the entire cast.