Memorable Performances of 2017 – London
Head and shoulders above other new work this year was Crystal Pite’s Flight Pattern for the Royal Ballet…
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Arcadia, Le Baiser de la fée, ‘Still Life’ at the Penguin Café – London
★★✰✰✰ Bintley’s ‘Still Life’ at the Penguin Café saves a dispiriting evening by providing nimble demi-character dancing with a timely message, first delivered nearly 20 years ago.
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Aladdin – London
★★★✰✰ Aladdin never fully finds its feet, but there’s a lot to like about the show, from the cheery group numbers to the striking visuals.
MacMillan Celebrations – Le Baiser de la fee (SB), Concerto (BRB), Jeux (RB) – London
In the first of the mixed bills celebrating Kenneth MacMillan’s ballets, 25 years after his death, “Le Baiser de la fée” intrigued me because the questions it posed about his development as a choreographer…
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Coppelia and Three Short Story Ballets – Bristol and Birmingham
★★★✰✰ I went to Bristol to catch Coppelia and the specific lead casting of Celine Gittens and Tyrone Singleton – who have now totally transitioned from being rising stars to fully risen Principals.
Birmingham Royal Ballet – The Tempest – London
★★★✰✰ Bintley has treated Shakespeare’s drama as a masque, full of spectacle, music and dancing, with elusive characters that are more allegorical than realistic. It doesn’t work as a narrative ballet because the sub-plots are too complicated…
Birmingham Royal Ballet – The Tempest (premiere) – Birmingham
★★★✰✰ In a nutshell Bintley’s Tempest is a visual triumph but feels slight choreographically and you’d be well advised to mug up on the story before seeing it.
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Wink, The Moor’s Pavane, The Shakespeare Suite – Birmingham
★★★✰✰ Jessica Lang’s Wink is an attractive piece, well designed and well made with a clear structure.
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Shakespeare midscale tour: Wink, Three pas de deux, The Moor’s Pavane – Durham
★★★✰✰ “… Wink is a 4 star piece. We need to see more of Jessica Lang’s work…”
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Themes & Variations, Enigma Variations, The King Dances – London
The 28-strong cast rose to the challenge of Themes and Variations, with its tricky footwork and complicated formations…
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Swan Lake – London
Opening night cast of Celine Gittens and Tyrone Singleton reviewed + some thoughts on Delia Mathews and Brandon Lawrence…
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Swan Lake (Mathews and Lawrence) – Birmingham
Some partnership work because the dancers are so different and others, as here, work because they share a style and approach – unaffected, nuanced, true and richly musical.
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Sylvia – Birmingham
David Bintley’s Sylvia is a great piece of classical dance and escapist fun.
Birmingham Royal Ballet – The King Dances, Carmina burana – Birmingham
The King Dances is a man’s ballet – it has to be said a very pretty man’s ballet with gorgeous designs by Katrina Lindsay.
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Quatrain, Matryoshka, Beauty and the Beast pdd, Swan Lake pdq, Facade – High Wycombe
Ruth Brill’s Matryoshka showed a lot of sense and maturity I thought – she clearly thinks about entertaining the audience.
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Serenade, Carmina burana – London
To celebrate his 20th year as artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, David Bintley has revived the first work he created in the post – Carmina burana…
Birmingham Royal Ballet – La Fin du jour, Miracle in the Gorbals, Flowers of the Forest – London
Gillian Lynne has made Helpmann and Benthall’s wartime collaboration into a gutsy dramatic ballet, probably with more choreography than Helpmann attempted.
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Prince of the Pagodas (Bracewell/Roberts) – London
One of Bintley’s other notable commitments as Director is the rapid development of young dancers. For a graduating dance student, hungry for big roles, BRB is the company to aim for….
