English National Ballet – 70th Anniversary Gala – London
★★★★✰ For those of us that have been involved with the company, no matter how small a part, it is clear that the ‘happy family’ that is English National Ballet, reveres and appreciates all who have been part of its 70 year existence.
San Francisco Ballet – Opening Night Gala – San Francisco
★★★★✰ ‘Spellbound’ delivered in every regard – opulent grandeur, terrific people watching and above all, marvelous dance.
Some Memorable Performances of 2019 – London
Lynette Halewood with some reflections on London dance performances over the last year – the good and the less good…
MuzArts – Radio & Juliet, Faun, McGregor + Mugler – London
★★✰✰✰ There was certainly some spectacle and some good dancing, and not just from the big stars. However, the most heavily promoted piece and world premiere was an excruciating fifteen minutes of disappointment…
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.
New Adventures – Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet – London
★★★✰✰ Our setting is the Verona Institute in the near future. Here disturbed young people have been locked up for an opaque purpose under the eye of a sadistic jailer… A traumatised Juliet meets a troubled Romeo, and it ends as badly as you might expect.
The Bolshoi Ballet in London, Summer 2019 – All you need to know (and more!)
The Bolshoi Ballet are in London this summer with Spartacus, Swan Lake, The Bright Stream and Don Quixote. One of the world’s greatest companies, here are Jann Parry’s thoughts on an important visit…
Lost Dog – Juliet & Romeo – London
★★★★✰ Juliet and Romeo is a clever work on many different levels.
Royal Ballet – Margot Fonteyn, A Celebration – London
★★★★✰ The Royal Ballet did themselves a lot of good with the last new bill of the season – a one-off celebration of Margot Fonteyn. There was much to be reminded of and be proud of.
Natalia Osipova Film – A Force of Nature Natalia
★★★★★ This is a superbly made film… It draws a portrait of a supreme artist, a woman with exceptional humility, all sensitively handled with warmth and humour.
5 Questions to Meaghan Grace Hinkis, Royal Ballet Soloist
Meaghan Grace Hinkis, the Royal Ballet soloist, is about to make her debut as Vera in Frederick Ashton’s “A Month in the Country”. 5 quick questions about that and her dancing life…
American Ballet Theatre – Gala with The Seasons premiere + Ratmansky Trio bill – New York
★★★★✰ It’s impossible not to be impressed by the range of these works, from introspective and conversational (Symposium) to brilliantly classical (The Seasons) to dramatic (Dnieper).
Carlos Acosta splendidly summed up as he collects his Critics’ Circle Services to the Arts award
I was at the recent Critics’ Circle lunch when Carlos Acosta won his latest award and was struck by Graham Watts citation – it seemed to splendidly sum up Carlos, both the man and his illustrious career… and why exactly we all admire him. BM, Ed.
Natalia Osipova – Pure Dance bill – New York
★★★✰✰ So, is Pure Dance a success? It depends on what you’re looking for. Osipova is as exciting, and as powerful, a dancer as ever. Among the commissions, only Valse Triste and Flutter are worthy of further exploration…
Royal Ballet – Romeo and Juliet – London
★★★✰✰ Somehow, still at the start of the run, the production seems sanitised, nicely ‘English’ in spite of Nicholas Georgiadis’s imposing Italian Renaissance sets and costumes. Different casts yet to come might bring fresh discoveries…
Annette Page: Tribute to a Ballerina
This programme celebrated Annette Page’s career with the Royal Ballet and supported the Motor Neurone Disease Association. She died at the age of 84 of MND, a cruel disease for a former dancer and an articulate, witty woman…
Memorable Performances of 2018 – London
Semperoper Ballett Dresden were another new visitor in the summer, with a programme of Forsythe works, some not seen here before. But Forsythe is a theme this year in himself.
Royal Ballet – The Unknown Soldier (premiere), Infra, Symphony in C – London
★★★✰✰ If The Unknown Soldier is dispiritingly low-key, Wayne McGregor’s Infra remains assertively bold…
Interview: Mayara Magri, First Soloist, The Royal Ballet
Jann Parry talks to the recently promoted Mayara Magri at an important time – she is about to make her debut as Gamzatti in The Royal Ballet’s production of La Bayadere – her first major and leading role in the company she joined 6 years ago…
English National Ballet – Manon – Milton Keynes Theatre
★★★★✰ English National Ballet can once more reflect triumphally on another significant success.
