★★★★✰ Tchaikovsky’s music for The Nutcracker may be played ad nauseam in shops and public spaces over Christmas, but the ballet for which he wrote it is the real deal – especially in this production.
Tag - Upper School
★★★★✰ The 2021 Royal Ballet School Summer Show, on the Royal Opera House Main Stage, was a different affair to normal with many of the White Lodge Junior School students physically absent because of Covid restrictions. But there was much to celebrate and lots of new work on display too...
★★★★✰ - Royal Ballet School in Liam Scarlett's new Cunning Little Vixen. ★★✰✰✰ - Royal Ballet's Yasmine Naghdi debut in Two Pigeons.
★★★✰✰ A matinee in two halves: fine before the interval, with dire, dreary choreography in the second half. Thank goodness for the exhilarating Grand Défilé at the close.
★★★★✰ It was a well-balanced programme, featuring different kinds of discipline for future corps de ballet dancers, and honouring veteran choreographers as well as contemporary ones.
★★★★✰ The Royal Ballet School in particular includes something very special in their show - the closing Grand Defile, which always brings a lump to the throat and a feeling of pride.
Question... What's the biggest audience noise you will ever hear in ballet? Answer... The roar of the audience at the end of the Royal Ballet School show at the Opera House.
If the choreography was a mixed bag there was a clear flip side, or rather two. This year's standard, particularly on the boys' side, gave cause for celebration at the strength on show...