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.
San Francisco Ballet – Program 2, Classical Re(Vision) bill – San Francisco
★★★★✰ San Francisco Ballet’s Program 2 was dubbed Classical Re(Vision) – a remembering of and reconnection with choreography in SFB’s existing repertory catalogue.
Some Memorable Performances of 2019 – New York
I don’t really believe in lists, but it’s admittedly fun to look back over the year and reflect on moments that have stayed with me. So here they are, in no particular order…
Mark Morris Dance Group – Pepperland – Washington
★★★✰✰ Much of the exuberance and vibrancy in Pepperland is supplied by Morris’s ingenious and utterly entertaining choreography…
Houston Ballet – The Letter V, Come In, Reflections – New York
★★★★★ Houston Ballet is a prime example of what a 21st century ballet company should look like: diverse, dynamic and accomplished.
Interview: Pam Tanowitz – Choreographer and Director
Pam Tanowitz, well known in New York, just created her first work outside the States – for the Royal Ballet. It’s been a critical success and Jann Parry (who gave the work 5 stars) finds out what makes her tick and why so many directors are seeking Tanowitz out…
Royal Ballet – Merce Cunningham celebration: Cross Currents, Monotones II, Everyone Keeps Me – London
★★★★★ Quite some achievement by Pam Tanowitz, to have followed treasured works by Cunningham and Ashton with one that pays homage to both, yet stands on its own as her distinctive tapestry of dance.
Mark Morris Dance Group – Mozart Dances – San Francisco
★★★★✰ Mozart Dances goes far beyond a basic choreographic rendering of the score, instead inviting an active dialogue between disciplines.
Mark Morris Dance Group – Sport, Empire Garden, V – New York
★★★★✰ Mark Morris Dance Group are currently at the Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival performing a triple bill coupling a new work, “Sport”, to the much admired “Empire Garden” and “V”.
Ivan Putrov – Against the Stream – London
★★★★✰ Putov brought together remarkable performers whom we long to see again, and left us wanting more…
Mark Morris Dance Group – Pepperland – London
★★★✰✰ Morris has added two performers to the line-up since the Liverpool premiere, which now stands at seventeen dancers, spreading the load for his continual torrent of flowing, elegant, musical choreography.
5 Questions to Pepperland designer Elizabeth Kurtzman about collaborating with Mark Morris
With Pepperland about to tour the UK for 6 weeks we talk to designer Elizabeth Kurtzman about her striking costumes and what it’s like working with Mark Morris…
Mark Morris, Choreographer and Director, Spices up Sgt Pepper
We talk to Mark Morris about Pepperland, his exuberant celebration of The Beatles ground-breaking album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, touring the UK and Ireland for six weeks in March and April.
Mark Morris Dance Group / Silkroad Ensemble – Layla and Majnun – London
★★★✰✰ Mark Morris’s Layla and Majnun is a music concert with dancing, lamenting a love that cannot be. It’s an age-old story, spread across continents and centuries.
Gallery – Mark Morris Dance Group / Silkroad Ensemble: Layla and Majnun
Photographed by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker / Rosas – The Six Brandenburg Concertos – New York
★★★★✰ At moments, I was ecstatically aware of the beauty of the body in motion.
Big Dance Theater – 17c – London
★★★✰✰ Big Dance Theater company, based in New York, set about turning Samuel Pepys priapic confessions into a dance theatre piece, mashing up past and present….
Mark Morris Dance Group – Pepperland – San Francisco
★★✰✰✰ Cal Performances patrons were clearly entertained on Friday evening. I, too, wanted to like the piece, but it didn’t really resonate with me.
Mark Morris Dance Group – Love Song Waltzes, I Don’t Want to Love, The Trout – New York
★★★✰✰ How striking Morris’ dancers are, how diversified in form and unique in expression and cohesive as a troupe — ever present and responsive to each other.
Mark Morris Dance Group – Lou 100: Pacific, Numerator, Serenade, Grand Duo – New York
★★★★✰ It’s one of the most striking characteristics of the Mark Morris Dance Group. A common sense of focus, an alertness to the music and to each other.
