★★★★✰ The annual ballet gala organised by Olga Balakleets and Ensemble Productions was deferred to the end of this year because of coronavirus restrictions. Fortunately, invited dancers from European countries were able to travel before the latest measures were imposed...
Tag - Paquita
★★★★✰ This is a Giselle that is both familiar and new. Watching it on opening night was like seeing a faded painting regain its colors.
★★★✰✰ This three-act three-hour-long Paquita is a brainchild of Smekalov, who is a second soloist with the company. He wrote his own libretto, largely borrowing from the Cervantes novella La Gitanilla...
★★★★✰ The choice of works emphasised ensembles more than individuals. It was interesting to see large numbers of young men dancing together, as well as a more usual female corps de ballet.
★★★★✰ The show overall gave us a good slice of what ballet is in 2019, and just how adaptable the students need to be these days - exciting times for them and exciting for us in the audience as well.
★★★✰✰ English National Ballet School is celebrating 30 years since its inception in 1989 - it had just 12 students in that inaugural year. The numbers are ever increasing and there is evidence of significant talents among the graduates this year.
★★★★✰ Royal Ballet School at the ROH Young Talent Festival with a mixed bill of over 10, new and old works...
Marina Harss talks to a legend about another legend and the greatest classical choreographer of them all - Marius Petipa. Full of interesting insights...
★★★★✰ In the last several years, the choreographer Alexei Ratmansky has developed a sideline to his main choreographic efforts: the reviving of ballets by Marius Petipa in a way that represents the original choreography with as much fidelity as possible...
Next month - September - The Trocks open their 2018 UK tour which runs through to November and covers many towns and cities across the land. A good primer on all things Trockadero as Diane Parkes speaks to Raffaele Morra, whose been with the company these last 17 years...
★★★✰✰ But, at least to my eye, the production’s triumph is its final lakeside act. There, the formations of swans, as originally choreographed by Lev Ivanov, become intricate, delicate, lyrical, and intensely moving.
★★★✰✰ All up, I think this production demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of "Raymonda" as a ballet. It certainly is a fabulous looking (and listening) calling card which might tour well...
So how did a good Chilean boy end up dancing ballet in Europe...
★★★★✰ From the moment Kimin Kim enters with a flourish as Solor in Act I of La Bayadère, we know we’re in for a treat.
★★★✰✰ When Maya Plisetskaya commissioned a Carmen-based ballet from Alberto Alonso, co-founder of the National Ballet of Cuba, she wanted to shake up Soviet ballet conventions...
Viktoria Tereshkina and Vladimir Shklyarov in the lead roles. Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou...
The Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards for 2016 were presented today at a ceremony in London, hosted by Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy MBE and Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante, the creative team behind the highly successful dance company, Boy Blue Entertainment.
The Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle is pleased to announce the nominations for the 17th National Dance Awards,
★★★✰✰ Ballet Central's 2016 tour visits 17 theatres with 8 diverse works. Bruce Marriott catches up with one of the paciest nights of dance you will find...
Yet again the Trocks had a fabulous critical reception during their Autumn UK tour and mentioned in nearly every review was Chase Johnsey, or in Trocks speak their petite ballerina Yakatarina Verbosovich. So what makes Chase/Yakatarina tick? Time for an interview...