★★✰✰✰ After viewing Ashton on a bill with works by Ricardo Graziano and Christopher Wheeldon, I’m not worried about Ashton’s relevance nor his resonance with a future audience. ...Both the Graziano and Wheeldon posed some problems from what some might consider a “female” perspective.
Tag - Monotones I
Monotones II: Audiences are now accustomed to the manic acrobatic contortions of modern choreography, so it is rewarding to see the rigour with which the three performers (Marianela Nunez, Valeri Hristov and Edward Watson) control their elasticity.
ABT galas are more laid-back than City Ballet’s; they’re less “produced,” with fewer speeches or slick video presentations. For the most part, the company just gets on with the show, with minimum fuss.
Both as a tribute to Ashton and as a coming-out party, it’s hard to imagine how the festival could have gone better. The ballets are in good hands.
But it was Rojo who really surprised me, with the most emotionally open performance I've ever seen from her. ...a swansong, indeed: what a way to go!
Closing the program is Kurt Jooss’s anti-war ballet from 1932,The Green Table, one of the greatest pieces of choreography ever created and still relevant after more than 80 years.
An important event yesterday – the Royal Opera House annual press conference – with Kevin O’Hare announcing his first season as incoming Royal Ballet Director. He takes over from Monica Mason in the summer. I found myself Tweeting before (on reading the press releases) and during the press conference – on #roh201213. Here is the stream in all its contorted Tweetiness and...
Not Trusting to Fate - The Frederick Ashton Foundation’s avowed purpose is to perpetuate the choreographer’s legacy. But to do so, it needs the co-operation of those to whom Ashton willed his ballets...