Dance
Hooked on 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…
Boston’s artistry
Those who lament sluggishness in contemporary stagings of Balanchine’s ballets — and those who are responsible for it — should…
Self styled
As someone who once raved about William Forsythe’s innovative approach to ballet and fondly admired his groundbreaking choreographic explorations, I…
Losing the plot
Last Friday, ballet’s overcrowded aviary welcomed a new addition: Raven Girl. Sexy, sleek, troubled and troublesome, she is the creation…
The end of innocence
As far as memory serves, in my 46 years of being both in and at the ballet I have encountered…
Mixed blessings
Last week, Sergei Polunin’s powerful entrance in Marguerite and Armand was saluted with a wave of electrically charged silence: not…
From Russia with love
If you want to know what’s so great about John Cranko’s choreography, look at the opening phrase of the final…
Bourne again
While most theatres brace themselves for the annual invasion of prancing Nutcrackers and flying snowmen, Sadler’s Wells offers something that…
Captivating kaleidoscope
When Philippe Decouflé first introduced the idea of sheer fun into the deadly serious business of postmodern dance-making, sceptics predicted…
Mixed bag
Last year I raved about Birmingham Royal Ballet, their artistic drive, their freshness, their impeccable artistic eclecticism and, not least,…
Twin peaks
According to an old ballet commonplace, no one can beat the Russians when it comes to Swan Lake. Biased and…
American beauty
Tragically, the number of ballet directors who can orchestrate good programmes and good openings is dwindling these days. Helgi Tómasson,…
Grim realities
It was somewhat weird that Pina Bausch’s Palermo Palermo opened on the same night as Spain’s victory over Italy in…
New world order
When World Cities 2012 — better known as the current Pina Bausch season — was first presented, questions were raised…
Tales of the city
Last Wednesday two of the three live pooches that appeared in Pina Bausch’s Viktor did onstage what most dogs do…
Unconditional love
Not many dance-makers have had their art celebrated in major, award-winning feature films. Pina Bausch has. Wim Wenders’s 2011 Pina…
Me and my shadows
Shadows and reflections have always triggered all sorts of fantasies. Theatre itself, in the words of many playwrights and theorists,…
Celebrating identity
Last year, when I reviewed The Sum of Parts, the community-oriented piece produced by Connect, Sadler’s Wells Creative Learning department,…
From street to stage
Breakin’ Convention, now in its ninth year at Sadler’s Wells, offers a feast of hip hop for all-comers, be they…
Magic chemistry
Artifact was the first work that the groundbreaking dance-maker William Forsythe created in 1984 for the legendary Ballet Frankfurt. It…
Triple triumph
Not many ballet companies convey young love as credibly as Birmingham Royal Ballet. And I am not talking about select…
Succulent pleasures
It was about time a dance-maker exacted revenge on dance academics. In Alexander Ekman’s 2010 Cacti, a voiceover explains the…
On the ropes
‘Aerial’ ballets were all the rage in late-Victorian London. It mattered little that they were more circus acts than actual…
Star turn
At first sight, the new Royal Ballet double bill might come across as an odd coupling: Ashton’s sparkling The Dream…
