Royal Ballet – Don Quixote – London
★★★★★ With Marianela Nunez and Vadim Muntagirov… Theirs was a performance that caught up everyone in the sheer pleasure and excitement of spectacular dancing.
Royal Ballet School & Royal Ballet – The Cunning Little Vixen, The Two Pigeons – London
★★★★✰ – Royal Ballet School in Liam Scarlett’s new Cunning Little Vixen. ★★✰✰✰ – Royal Ballet’s Yasmine Naghdi debut in Two Pigeons.
Gallery – Royal Ballet’s Marianela Nuñez & Vadim Muntagirov in Don Quixote
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Scottish Ballet – Cinderella – Glasgow
★★★★✰ This is my second review of Scottish Ballet’s Cinderella this winter. Why? Well, it’s a production I like and I wanted to see more dancers in it, silly!
Alessandra Ferri, Herman Cornejo and Bruce Levingston – TRIO ConcertDance – London
★★★★✰ A harmonious blending of music and dance, it proved seventy-five minutes of non-stop bliss!
Royal Ballet – Asphodel Meadows, The Two Pigeons – London
★★★★✰ Liam Scarlett’s Asphodel Meadows has made a welcome return to the Opera House stage, reminding us exactly why his prodigious talent was given a main stage debut when the choreographer was just 24.
Gallery – Royal Ballet in Asphodel Meadows and The Two Pigeons
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Royal Ballet – Les Patineurs, Winter Dreams, The Concert – London
★★★★✰ Now that we are all one more Nutcracker nearer death, as weary critic Richard Buckle used to bemoan, the Royal Ballet has given us a wintry bonne bouche of ballets to savour.
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.
Gallery – Royal Ballet in Les Patineurs, Winter Dreams and The Concert
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Autumn delights: La fille mal gardée & The Nutcracker – London & Birmingham
★★★★✰ I look forward to the changes inevitably coming to BRB, but I can’t believe any new director will turn their back on such repertoire gems as La fille mal gardee and their Peter Wright Nutcracker.
New Adventures – Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake – London
★★★★✰ Matthew Bourne has reworked his famous “Swan Lake” and it’s now touring. Graham Watts wrestles with iconic and uber definitions in a long look at a much-loved work.
Close up with Darcey Bussell and Ashton’s Sylvia at the Royal Opera House Cinema Festival
To celebrate 10 year of live relays the Royal Opera House is hosting a Cinema Festival of past works in the newly rebuilt Linbury Studio Theatre. Jann Parry was there for the screening of Ashton’s Sylvia (recorded in 2005) and which included Darcey Bussell reminiscing about dancing the lead role…
Royal Ballet – The Nutcracker – London
★★★★✰ Wright’s ending is the best ever, preserving the assurance of the Grand pas de deux that the future must surely be blissful.
2018 National Dance Awards – Announcement of Nominations
The Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle is pleased to announce the nominations for the 19th National Dance Awards…
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…
Gallery – Royal Ballet in The Unknown Soldier, Infra, Symphony in C
Featuring Alastair Marriott’s new “The Unknown Soldier”, Wayne McGregor’s “Infra” and Balanchine’s “Symphony in C”. Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
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…
Royal Ballet – La Bayadère – London
★★★★✰ In the past, the Royal Ballet’s version, last performed five years ago, has sometimes seemed insubstantial. Not so this time, with a luxury cast in full dramatic mode: Vadim Muntagirov, Marianela Nuñez, Natalia Osipova and Gary Avis…
City Center Balanchine Festival – Miami City Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet, Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet
★★★✰✰ It’s fascinating to see how Balanchinean charm and wit are interpreted by dancers for whom the Balanchine repertoire is more of a foreign language.
