
Mariinsky Ballet – Paquita – Washington
★★★✰✰ 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…

Bolshoi Ballet – Jewels: Emeralds, Rubies, Diamonds – Brisbane
★★★★★ As you would expect Diamonds was the highlight of the three part Jewels.

St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre – Swan Lake – London
★★✰✰✰ Although the first night audience was moved to a standing ovation, Swan Lake can and should be so much more than this stylised ritual…

Mariinsky Ballet – Carmen Suite, Infra, Grand Pas from Paquita – London
★★★✰✰ 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…

Macedonian Ballet – Cleopatra in rehearsal – Skopje
How do you review a world premiere that you have spent seven hours flying to, and then find that it has been postponed until you are back home after another eight hours of travel?

Mikhailovsky Ballet – Le Corsaire – Costa Mesa
★★★★✰ On Saturday, Nov. 19, at Segerstrom Hall, Southern California audiences experienced our era’s ultimate executor of Le Corsaire’s balletic thrills, Ivan Vasiliev…

Mariinsky Ballet – Raymonda – Washington
The Mariinsky Ballet brought Raymonda to Washington where Oksana Khadarina saw the opening night and gave it ★★★. A night later the performance got ★★★★ – different ballerinas, different result…

Mariinsky Ballet – Swan Lake, Stepanova/Parish cast – London
Xander Parish, making his British debut at Saturday’s matinee, proved that he has been transformed into a true Mariinsky prince. His achievement is a reproach to the Royal Ballet, who failed to value him as a danseur noble.

Bolshoi Ballet – Swan Lake – New York
It is even more disappointing that the troupe should open its run with a Swan Lake so lackluster… It’s not the dancers’ fault. At every level, the Bolshoi dancers move with thrilling force and fullness.

Zhukov Dance Theatre – Enlight, Spider on a Mirror – San Francisco
At times the choreography doesn’t seem to fit this space… Nonetheless, the dancers do a remarkable job with what they are given.

Two Guest Artists – lana Salenko & Evgenia Obraztsova – Announced For The Royal Ballet’s Autumn Season
Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, is delighted to announce that two Guest Artists will be performing with the Company this Autumn – Evgenia Obraztsova and lana Selenko

Mikhailovsky Ballet – The Flames of Paris – St. Petersburg
There is a lack of egotism to Messerer’s work that is immensely appealing, too: unlike Nureyev or Grigorovitch, he never appears to be coercing the music or the steps into fitting his idiosyncratic vision.

Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet – Roland Petit’s Coppelia – London
The pleasure lies in the quality of dancing rather than interpretation. Petit was an expert at animating a stage, a musical-theatre choreographer who delivered what audiences expected…