dance
theartsdesk in Riga - 43,290 Latvians sing and dance for their countryTuesday, 24 July 2018![]()
"They incessantly break down, destroy and fragment the mistrust that exists among people," wrote a Latvian journalist of a folklore group during the start of the Baltic countries' "singing revolution" against Soviet rule in 1988. Read more... |
Michael Chance on continuing opera in Hampshire: 'good people like to work with good people'Wednesday, 06 June 2018![]()
Out of the blue comes a phone call. A freelance career is based on those to a certain extent. Certainly mine has been. But this one was a bit different. “Would you come and talk to us about the way forward?”. I soon learnt that what this actually meant was, “would you launch and run a new opera festival for us?” |
Manon, Royal Ballet review - glitter and betrayFriday, 30 March 2018![]()
"Massenet feels it as a Frenchman, with powder and minuets," declared Puccini in annoucing his own operatic setting of the Abbé Prévost's 1731 novel Manon Lescaut. Read more... |
Sir Matthew Bourne remembers Scott Ambler 1960-2018 – 'A prince among men'Thursday, 22 March 2018![]()
Nobody deserves the title of New Adventures “legend” more than Scott Ambler; nobody is remembered more affectionately – the generosity of spirit, the many kindnesses, the fierce loyalty, the tears of pride in company notes sessions, the endearing eccentricities and, of course, the highly embellished and hilarious stories are all legendary to those that knew and worked with him. Read more... |
Best of 2017: DanceSaturday, 30 December 2017![]()
With forelock-tugging celebrations of a choreographer who died 25 years ago and a summer visit by the Mariinsky the highest-profile events in the calendar, 2017 may not be remembered as a vintage year for British dance. Read more... |
Bolshoi's controversial Nureyev ballet opens – to ovations and bansMonday, 11 December 2017![]()
Nureyev, the most notorious new production at the Bolshoi Ballet’s modern history, premiered last night in Moscow to a 15-minute standing ovation and exclamations of official approval even by Putin’s press secretary – but the ballet’s creator and director languished under house arrest, refused permission to see... Read more... |
Fierce: the Birmingham festival which reaches out to Europe and beyondWednesday, 18 October 2017![]()
Since its inception in 1997 Fierce, Birmingham’s International Festival of Live Art & Performance, has championed the work of performance makers not often seen in Britain. The pantheon of body artists under Mark Ball’s era as director included the likes of Franko B, Ron Athey and Kira O’Reilly. Read more... |
Sergei Vikharev, master ballet-reconstructor, 1962-2017Tuesday, 06 June 2017![]()
Just as the 200th anniversary is about to be celebrated of the great genius of 19th-century classical ballets, Marius Petipa, the creator of The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, La Bayadère, half of Swan Lake, and many other masterpieces, his oeuvre's most remarkable reconstructor has died suddenly, aged only 55. Read more... |
Preview: International Dance Festival Birmingham 2016Monday, 11 April 2016![]()
International Dance Festival Birmingham (IDFB) is one of the unsung heroes not just of dance in Britain, but of festivals. It treats anyone within striking distance of the West Midlands to an exciting range of performers and public dance events over three weeks, and is cleverly scheduled in May – when lengthening days and bank holidays make us want to go out and have a good time, but it's not quite warm enough for camping. Read more... |
Best of 2015: Dance & BalletThursday, 31 December 2015![]()
It was business as usual in the British dance world in 2015. Looking back over the year, theartsdesk's dance critics see the industry's many talented, capable people continuing to do their jobs well, but we don't recall being shaken, stirred or surprised as often as in other years, or at least not by new works: our top moments of the year are concentrated in the farewells of great dancers Sylvie Guillem and Carlos Acosta, and in classic productions of classic ballets. Read more... |
Pages
latest in today
![Taylor Swift, Wembley Stadium, Saturday 22nd June 2024](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/tay%20header.jpeg?itok=X6Ly0O0S)
Unless you were around when The Beatles toured America in the mid-1960s, it’s doubtful you've heard anything like this. In 40 years of extensive...
!['An album of real warmth and connection'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/thompson.jpg?itok=Mb9rBt0T)
She has one of the most distinctive voices in folk and contemporary British music, impossible to forget once heard, and impossible to ignore. Even...
![Martin James Bartlett watched with delight by Fantasia Orchestra leader Millie Ashton](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Fantasia%201.jpg?itok=v4fqQDvE)
Any programme featuring Gershwin’s top large-scale works might tend to the “pops” side. Bernstein’s West Side Story Overture and even the...
![It’s all relative: Theo Ogundipe and Tiwa Lade in ‘My Father’s Fable’.](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/fable1.jpg?itok=2S4sJgVz)
Following the huge success of Benedict Lombe’s Shifters, which transfers soon to the West End, the...
![Ruthlessly organised: Simone Signoret in 'Army of Shadows'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/L--Armee-des-ombres-Photos-022PHOTO-jpgiii.jpg?itok=obTJMiE7)
One of those rare films that leaves you speechless after the closing credits, Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows (L'Armée des...
![Ideal lovers: Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen as Cesare and Louise Alder as Cleopatra](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Cesare%201.jpeg?itok=3JdC7eMC)
How much better can a classic get? Sebastian Scotney more or less asked the same question on theartsdesk the last time Giulio...
![Kelly Clancy](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/kelly%20portrait.jpg?itok=Oe1dXxId)
For a couple of decades, the free video game America’s Army was a powerful recruitment aid for the US military. More than a shoot-em-up,...
![Chillin' with them old blues](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Peyroux_LetsWalk_Cover_03_3600x3600%20%281%29.jpg?itok=F2jUDM0f)
Madeleine Peyroux made her name with her second album, 2004’s Careless Love. It consists almost completely of cover versions, delivered...
![The Cryin’ Shames, c. September 1966 in their final incarnation as Paul & Ritchie & The Crying Shames](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/The%20Cryin%E2%80%99%20Shames%20Do%20The%20Strum_the%20cryin%20shames_Header_1000.jpg?itok=Y75fI_xH)
Liverpool’s The Cryin’ Shames were responsible for two of mid-Sixties Britain’s most striking single’s tracks. The February 1966 top side “Please...
![The statue of Smetana, born 200 years ago, presides over the main square of his native Litomyšl](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/1000021319.jpg?itok=j5ytrfbY)
What did they put in the water of Czechia’s central Bohemia/Moravia borderlands? From south to north there's Mahler’s birthplace in Kali...