Royal Ballet – Swan Lake – London
★★★★✰ Marianela Nunez and Vadim Muntagirov’s account of Swan Lake is spellbinding… if Scarlett’s revision of the 1895 scenario makes even less sense than the original.
The Royal Ballet – The Cellist (premiere), Dances at a Gathering – London
★★★✰✰ In The Cellist, Cathy Marston has taken on a challenging subject for her first commission for the Royal Opera House stage: the real-life story of a much-loved musician Jacqueline Du Pré…
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.
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.
Gallery – Royal Ballet in Les Patineurs, Winter Dreams and The Concert
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Royal Ballet – Obsidian Tear, Marguerite and Armand, Elite Syncopations – London
★★★★✰ The ostensible link between the three works in this mixed bill is that they are by the Royal Ballet’s resident choreographers, past and present: Frederick Ashton. Kenneth MacMillan and Wayne McGregor. But none is typical of the choreographers’ work…
Gallery – Royal Ballet in Obsidian Tear, Marguerite and Armand, Elite Syncopations
A triple bill of works by Wayne McGregor, Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan. Gallery by Dave Morgan…
Royal Ballet – Manon – London
★★★★✰ It’s a myth that Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon was ever regarded as a failure. Critics may initially have had reservations but audiences have enjoyed it from its first season in 1974 throughout its many revivals…
Royal Ballet – Bernstein Centenary: Yugen, The Age of Anxiety, Corybantic Games – London
★★★✰✰ Leonard Bernstein wrote (in 1949): “I have a deep suspicion that every work I write, for whatever medium, is really theatre music in some way.’ Many choreographers have taken up the challenge, though his quasi-metaphysical musings have usually eluded them: dance is more corporeal than music.
Feature – Frederick Ashton’s choreography for Le Rossignol – a masterclass with Sir Anthony Dowell
The Metropolitan Opera in New York staged “Le Rossignol” in December 1981 as part of a programme commemorating the hundredth anniversary of Stravinsky’s birth… the producer was John Dexter. He told Ashton, back in London, that he could choreograph two dancers as the Nightingale and the Fisherman on stage, while the roles would be sung by opera singers in the orchestra pit…
News – Royal Ballet Promotions, Joiners and Leavers, 2017/18 Season
Hightlight – Yasmine Nagdhi promoted to Principal dancer. Full press release with all Promotions, Joiners and Leavers
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 – Wink, The Moor’s Pavane, The Shakespeare Suite – London
★★★★✰ Wink, best seen from above, is a valuable addition to BRB’s repertoire. So is José Limon’s The Moor’s Pavane, created in 1949.
2015 National Dance Awards – Winners Announced
2015 National Dance Awards – The Nominations Gallery of awards pictures Press release 25 January 2016 The 16th National Dance Awards The Place, London: 25th January 2016 The Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards…
2015 National Dance Awards – Announcement of Nominations
The Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle is pleased to announce the nominations for the 16th National Dance Awards,
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 – 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 – End of season promotions, leavers and joiners
BRB Promotions, Joiners and Leavers…
