dance

Cleopatra, Northern Ballet, Sadler's Wells

Judith Flanders Tuesday, 17 May 2011

David Nixon has been artistic director of Northern Ballet for a decade, and it’s probably safe to say he is the king of the story ballet: Wuthering Heights, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Madame Butterfly, Dracula – if it’s got a story, he is, seemingly, willing to tell it. As Christopher Wheeldon’s recent Alice in Wonderland for the Royal Ballet showed, this is not as easy as might first appear. Nixon shoots straight from the hip: he...

Russian Ballet Icons Gala: Celebrating Galina Ulanova, Coliseum

Judith Flanders Sunday, 15 May 2011

Ballet galas are a curious institution. They mimic the form of “Greatest Hits” recordings, but what you get are rarely greatest hits, because they can’t be. Dance develops in its own time, its unfolding being an essential part of the magic. Rip a pas de deux (and galas circle around pas de deux like vultures in the Gobi desert) from its context, and you get pure dance, certainly; flashy dance, more than likely; lots of pyrotechnics, almost inevitably. But you don’t get the...

Ballo Della Regina/ Live Fire Exercise/ DGV, Royal Ballet

Ismene Brown Saturday, 14 May 2011

Current affairs can be an on-trend choreographer's nemesis.

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Dutch National Ballet, Hans Van Manen, Sadler's Wells

Ismene Brown Thursday, 12 May 2011

From fission to fusion: Hans Van Manen's deft, intricate 'Concertante'

In a world crying out for even below-mediocre ballet choreographers (Benjamin Millepied, anyone?), the Dutch old master Hans Van Manen is an extraordinarily well-kept secret. Why a man of such superb balletic accomplishment, theatrical instincts and calligraphic and technical skill remains barely acknowledged in Britain is presumably down to sex. His idea of sexy ballet, that is,...

Pénombre, Rosalba Torres Guerrero & Lucas Racasse, Sadler's Wells

Judith Flanders Thursday, 05 May 2011

Pénombre, penumbra: "The partially shaded region around the shadow of an opaque body, when the light source is larger than a point source and only part of its light is cut off (contrasted with the full shadow or umbra)." Pénombre, penumbra: "An area where shade blends with light; a shadowy area." Pénombre, penumbra: "A faint intimation of something undesirable; a peripheral region of uncertain extent; a...

Tap Olé, Peacock Theatre

Ismene Brown Wednesday, 04 May 2011

Tap Olé: 'A strange half-breed of Spanish and hoofing without the best genes of either'

Catalan dance is one of Sadler’s Wells’ themes this spring, though I’d love to know how much of what Tap Olé does can really be called Catalan - this is a tap fusion company that owes its germination to Riverdance, Tap Dogs and the efforts in New York recently to revive rhythm tap. Attaching tap class skills to Spanish guitar makes what’s on at the Peacock this week more a tap show in a tourist-trail tapas bar than a theatrical dance production worth a detour.

Jig

Ismene Brown Tuesday, 03 May 2011

Can one enjoy watching a film supposedly about dance in which competition and being Number One is all and the word “artistry” is not mentioned once? And in which performers are nameless numbers? And the documentary-maker shows not a scintilla of curiosity about why this might be? One might, if it were handled with a twisted sense of humour and cutting observation.

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Chouf Ouchouf, Queen Elizabeth Hall

Ismene Brown Sunday, 24 April 2011

'Chouf Ouchouf': Human pyramids are only the start of it

If you’re looking for a surprising and off-the-wall show this school holidays, I’ve no hesitation in hugely recommending Chouf Ouchouf, a brilliantly and theatrically inventive acrobat theatre show performed by the Groupe Acrobatique de Tangier, a troupe of Moroccan acrobats who learned their awesome skills on Tangier Beach. Through the wit and imagination of its Swiss theatre directors, the show manages to retain a lively street smell and yet pull off some deft theatrical...

Manon, Royal Ballet

Ismene Brown Thursday, 21 April 2011

Manon, Manon, the little minx. Here she comes again - for the 223rd time, last night - and like the legendary ladies of her trade, scrubs up fresh and newly captivating, as if she’d only just skipped off the carriage from the convent.

Pina 3D/ Giselle 3D

Ismene Brown Tuesday, 19 April 2011

Pina Bausch decided: “Words can’t do more than just evoke things - that’s where dance comes in.” Well, up to a point, Lord Copper. Only if they’re bad words and good dance - bad writhing instead of, say, Shakespeare’s words isn’t much of a swap.