ballet
The Red Shoes: Next Step review - teen dancer's crisisFriday, 25 August 2023
Fans of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's timeless classic The Red Shoes shouldn’t rush to The Red Shoes: Next Step expecting a sequel. This sentimental Australian teen drama is more of a step-change than a follow-up.At least its American... Read more... |
Hunting legendary treasure with ballet's Indiana Jones - Pierre Lacotte 1932-2023Wednesday, 19 April 2023
As any archaeologist knows, digging up a sarcophagus is a nailbiting business. How small are the chances that inside the shredded linen wrappings will lie a recognisable body with some vestiges of its former life upon it?Enough DNA and bone to... Read more... |
Turn It Out with Tiler Peck, Sadler's Wells review - America's ballet wonder-woman raises the barreTuesday, 14 March 2023
She can do anything. That’s what choreographers say about Tiler Peck, the peppy New York City Ballet principal who has launched a stream of projects above and beyond the day job. You want speed? Wham, you get it. You want complexity? She can learn a... Read more... |
Best of 2022: DanceFriday, 30 December 2022
Come the end of the year, the ritual glance over the shoulder, what we crave is celebration – this year of all years. "Look, we have come through!" is what we all want to hear from arts practitioners who took such a battering in the previous one.And... Read more... |
Birmingham Royal Ballet: Into the Music, Sadler's Wells review - a visual and aural feastSaturday, 05 November 2022
Carlos Acosta’s idea of putting live music first and foremost in BRB’s latest mixed bill was a no-brainer. The Midlands-based company, directed by Acosta since early 2020, is unique among British ballet companies in being able to call on its own... Read more... |
Mayerling, Royal Ballet review - a masterpiece of storytelling, darkly grippingSaturday, 08 October 2022
Although the loss of its 96-year-old royal patron can hardly have come as a surprise, Covent Garden has been slow to register it. The gold-embroidered ERs on those luscious red velvet stage curtains remain in place, and when Wednesday night’s... Read more... |
Dance for Ukraine, London Coliseum, online review - a gala to rememberFriday, 22 April 2022
What do top ballet dancers keep permanently in their back pocket? Answer: a fully rehearsed, ready-to-go gala item, to judge by a one-off fundraising event mounted in double-quick time at the Coliseum last month and now available to stream,... Read more... |
Raymonda, English National Ballet, Coliseum review - a creaky old standard, lavishly restored to healthFriday, 21 January 2022
Neglected classics, whether books, plays or ballets, are usually neglected for a reason, and so it is with the three-act ballet Raymonda. A hit in 1898 for the Imperial ballet in St Petersburg but unperformed in this country since the 1960s, its... Read more... |
Best of 2021: DanceWednesday, 29 December 2021
It was never going to be a bumper year, just a bumpy one. With theatres dark until May or later, the usual 11 or 12 months of potential live-dance going was reduced to four or five. There was one bright shaft of optimism in late spring, and another... Read more... |
Starstruck, Scottish Ballet review - smart, sassy and cinematicFriday, 03 December 2021
How do you picture Gene Kelly? Most likely in his effervescent screen persona, either as the burly ex-GI of An American in Paris, or as the hoofer without a raincoat in Singin’ in the Rain.You’re less likely to picture him peering through a movie... Read more... |
Bournemouth SO, Litton, Lighthouse, Poole review - a Coup de Ballet sans dancersSaturday, 06 November 2021
Welcome back Andrew Litton, Conductor Laureate of the Bournemouth Symphony, for the latest of many happy annual returns since his tenure as Principal Conductor between 1988 and 1994.Lighthouse was thronged with devoted supporters for both the... Read more... |
Romeo and Juliet, Birmingham Royal Ballet & Royal Ballet review - a storming start to the seasonWednesday, 13 October 2021
Two households, both alike in dignity … and both launching their respective seasons with a production of Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet. For neither the Royal Ballet nor its midlands sibling Birmingham Royal Ballet is this a surprising... Read more... |
