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…
Shantala Shivalingappa – Akasha – New York
★★★★✰ Everything in Shivalingappa’s style emphasizes clarity, shape, and intention. … a very satisfying evening of dance.
RB, ABT, NYCB & NYTB dancers at the Joyce Ballet Festival – Prog C, curated by Jean-Marc Puissant – New York
★★★★✰ Starwise, Bejart’s Wayfarer bumps this program from two stars to four.
Suzanne Farrell Ballet – Forever Balanchine: Farewell Performances – Washington
★★★★★ As artistic director of her own troupe, Farrell was able to take her devotion to Balanchine and her aspiration to promote and preserve his legacy to a new level. For nearly 20 years, Washington audiences have enjoyed an annual mini-festival of Balanchine’s works…
Feature – Suzanne Farrell Ballet’s Final Performances in Washington
This season the Suzanne Farrell Ballet is bidding farewell to its audiences with final performances at the Kennedy Center Opera House, December 7-9. There will be two programs, each featuring a selection of George Balanchine’s choreographic gems…
Cesar Morales – Principal Dancer, Birmingham Royal Ballet
So how did a good Chilean boy end up dancing ballet in Europe…
Batsheva Dance Company – Last Work – New York
★★✰✰✰ Last Work is not unlike other Batsheva pieces which use an assemblage of vignettes, however it doesn’t hang together as cohesively as say, Sadeh21.
Francesco Ventriglia – Artistic Director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet
Nearly 2 years into his directorship at RNZB, Michelle Potter talks to Francesco Ventriglia about his life before joining the company and broad hopes for the company.
No Body – Installations by Lucy Carter, Michael Hulls, Nitin Sawhney, Siobhan Davies and Russell Maliphant – London
★★★✰✰ No Body was an interesting diversion, that confirms the artistic chops of the technical talent that makes so many shows pop and zing. As an exercise I hope it might be repeated every few years.
Washington Ballet – Hamlet – Washington
★★✰✰✰ There is, however, one undeniably compelling personage in this somewhat flat production of Hamlet – the quiet and fragile Ophelia, as portrayed by Venus Villa…
Ave Maya Gala in Memory of Maya Plisetskaya – London
★★★✰✰ Every gala needs a revelation, and this one was provided by Sergio Bernal, a Spanish dancer who dominated the stage in an imperious farruca solo from Antonio’s flamenco version of The Three Cornered Hat…
Suzanne Farrell Ballet – Walpurgisnacht Ballet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Emeralds – Washington
Suzanne Farrell Ballet’s new program, “Balanchine, Béjart, and the Bard,” presented at the Kennedy Center Opera House at the end of October, was dedicated to the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. It offered an appealing mix of four ballets
Interview: Suzanne Farrell – Artistic Director
We talk to Farrell about her summer program, her approach to teaching aspiring ballet dancers, her studies and work with George Balanchine and also about her her company and its new season at the Kennedy Center, which runs 30 Oct – 1 Nov 2015.
Julio Bocca – Director Ballet Nacional SODRE in Montevideo
Julio Bocca, much loved but now no longer dancing, has a new life in Montevideo, running Ballet Nacional SODRE. Marina Harss talks to a busy man rebuilding his company – fast…
Bejart Ballet Lausanne & The Tokyo Ballet – The Ninth Symphony – Monte-Carlo
It is, of course, a huge show but the commitment the dancers bring to it, the excellence of the dancing and sense of joy they bring to the final movement, make it a very theatrical experience.
Tamara Rojo – Director and Principal Dancer, English National Ballet – in her own words
It was only when I worked with Mats Ek that I understood who I was as a dancer.
Mariinsky Ballet – Cinderella (+ The Enchanted Wanderer) – New York
…the Ukrainian-born soloist Anastasia Matvienko was a pliant, loose-limbed Cinderella who danced with uninhibited ease and looked perfectly at home in Ratmansky’s goofy interpretation of the character.
Shaun Parker & Company – AM I – Melbourne
…AM I is a thematic magpie, shifting from the macro to the micro and back again in its exploration of the nexus of religion and science.
Rome Opera Ballet – The Sleeping Beauty – Rome
Finding myself in Rome for a few weeks, I decided to test the local waters and was happy to discover that the Rome Opera Ballet was performing Tchaikovsky’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’, with several casts. I chose a cast almost at random…
Two Russian Galas – Dance Open in St. Petersburg, Soul of Dance in Moscow
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…
