ballerina
theartsdesk in Berlin: Three BalletsSunday, 03 April 2016
In London, seeing the same ballet company do three different pieces in three different theatres over four nights would be some kind of festival. In Berlin, it's just business as usual – albeit quite a busy week! – for the hard-working Staatsballett... Read more... |
Giselle, Royal BalletSaturday, 27 February 2016
One of the secrets to enjoying life is mastering the creative use of disappointment. Many in the Covent Garden audience last night were no doubt deeply disappointed not to be seeing Natalia Osipova's legendary portrayal of the title role in Giselle... Read more... |
The Nutcracker, Royal BalletThursday, 10 December 2015
With its hybrid Romantic-kitschy plot, chocolate-advert Tchaikovksy tunes, and baggage of obligatory Christmas cheer, the Nutcracker is harder to get right than you might think if you've only ever seen Sir Peter Wright's Royal Ballet version, now... Read more... |
The Two Pigeons, Royal BalletFriday, 20 November 2015
With real live birds fluttering across the stage, and a sweetly happy ending – hurrah for young love! – Frederick Ashton's 1961 The Two Pigeons can look like mere frothy fantasy, precisely the kind of trivial, uncomplicated... Read more... |
Swan Lake, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Sadler's WellsWednesday, 14 October 2015
Swan Lakes are not created equal. In fact they are not even created the same: ballet is the art form with the evanescent repertoire, in which First Folios – or any folios – are singularly scarce. Even with a classic as beloved as Swan Lake... Read more... |
Raven Girl/Connectome, Royal BalletWednesday, 07 October 2015
Wayne McGregor wasn't anyone's idea of a ballet man when he was appointed choreographer in residence at the Royal Ballet in 2007. Before then, and since, his work has been abstract, spiky, verging on dysmorphic. His interest lay not in human... Read more... |
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, Prog 2, Peacock TheatreThursday, 24 September 2015
If the Trocks didn't exist, we would have to invent them. Every genre needs its loving parodists, treading the fine line between homage and dommage, and an art form as stylised and convention-governed as classical dance is riper for it than most -... Read more... |
Swan Lake, St Petersburg Ballet Theatre, London ColiseumFriday, 14 August 2015
St Petersburg Ballet Theatre is a phenomenon of the new Russia: not anchored in centuries of history or state patronage like its neighbours the Mariinsky and the Mikhailovsky, but founded as a commercial venture in 1994 by Konstantin Tachkin, a... Read more... |
Sylvie Guillem, Life in Progress, Sadler's WellsThursday, 28 May 2015
Sylvie Guillem is retiring in exactly the same way as she does everything: in her own time and on her own terms. She turns 50 this year, but it’s not that age is finally catching up with her – at least, not in her body, which she acknowledges has... Read more... |
Swan Lake, English National Ballet, London ColiseumThursday, 08 January 2015
The twelve days of Christmas may be over, but I have good news for ballet fans in London: a whole new batch of presents for you has washed up at the Coliseum, and it's overflowing with lords-a-leaping, ladies dancing, and swans-a-swimming. In Derek... Read more... |
The Nutcracker, English National Ballet, London ColiseumMonday, 15 December 2014
Unusually, English National Ballet’s Nutcracker finds itself in an empty field this year. Three Decembers ago, the second time out for Wayne Eagling’s production, it had to contend with Matthew Bourne’s version and the Royal Ballet’s, not... Read more... |
Sacred Monsters, Khan/Guillem, Sadler's WellsWednesday, 26 November 2014
There is a special poignancy to these performances of Sacred Monsters, Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan's terrific 2006 joint show. Guillem, the former Paris Opéra étoile and Royal Ballet prima ballerina whose singular talent has lit up contemporary... Read more... |
