Ballet’s super couple should stick to the classical repertoire
Last week, the feast of long-awaited dance events on offer echoed bygone days when London life was dominated by the…
Romeo and Juliet: a Mariinsky masterclass
According to some textbooks, one thing the fathers of Soviet choreography hastened to remove from ballet was that awkward-looking language…
Natalia Osipova interview: ‘I'm not interested in diamond tiaras on stage’
Giannandrea Poesio talks to Natalia Osipova about her ballet-based philosophy
Perfect dancing but boringly beautiful
Aesthetically speaking, last week’s performance by the Nederlands Dans Theater 1 was one by the slickest of the season. Fashionably…
A swan to die for at Sadler’s Wells
Swans, swans, more swans. If the lifespan of a dance critic were calculated by the number of performances of Swan…
Dance games from Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker at Sadler’s Wells
Forget the pedantic classifications of genres, styles and schools. When it comes to dance performances, it all boils down to…
Romeo, Juliet and Mussolini
George Balanchine’s Serenade, the manifesto of 20th-century neoclassical choreography, requires a deep understanding of both its complex stylistic nuances and…
Modern dance vs Shakespeare
In a dance world that has chosen to dispense with stylistic and semantic subtleties, ‘narrative ballet’ and ‘story ballet’ are…
European postmodern dance can be just as boring as American postmodern dance
What’s in a definition? As far as theatre dance is concerned, quite a lot. Labelling — and often labelling for…
Kings of Dance: a show to keep the Sun King happy
Louis XIV might have been a narcissistic and whimsical tyrant, but he did a lot for dance. An accomplished practitioner,…
The dancers who said ‘no’ to postmodernism
It all started in 1971, when a group of physically and artistically talented youngsters decided to create a dance company…
Ivan Vasiliev and Roberto Bolle: interview with ballet royalty
Giannandrea Poesio meets Ivan Vasiliev and Roberto Bolle, ballet’s demigods
Bach is made for dancing
It appears that J.S. Bach’s music is to theatre-dance what whipped cream is to chocolate. Masterworks such as Trisha Brown’s…
Stuttgart Ballet - still John Cranko's company
Stuttgart Ballet’s rapid ascent to fame is at the core of one of the most interesting chapters of ballet history.…
The Royal Ballet's triple bill was danced to perfection
There was a time when the term ‘world première’ was not as fashionable as it is these days. Great works…
Is there or isn't there a hanged man in 'Sun'?
Sun is one of those performances that confront reviewers with the eternal dilemma of whether or not it is appropriate…
A rich, colourful romp
Bold decisions are at the core of great artistic directorship. And Tamara Rojo, the ballet star leading English National Ballet,…
Carlos Acosta’s Don Quixote lacks the wow factor
Superstar Carlos Acosta makes little or no reference to Don Quixote’s established history in his programme note about the genesis…
A masterclass in stage presence from the Bolshoi
Jewels is everything a George Balanchine admirer could ask for. The sumptuous triptych, set to scores by Fauré, Stravinsky and…
The Bolshoi remains faithful to the classics
Tradition is often frowned on. Yet, if properly handled, it can be sheer fun and pure bliss, as demonstrated by…
Gusto galore from Boston Ballet
Those who lament sluggishness in contemporary stagings of Balanchine’s ballets — and those who are responsible for it — should…
