dance
Manon, Royal Opera House review - splendid start to the seasonThursday, 03 October 2019![]()
The Royal Ballet’s choice of season opener could be dismissed as safe and predictable. But as the glorious naturalistic detail of 1830s Paris unfolds in Kenneth MacMillan’s 1974 retelling, you see the reasoning. It’s only a year since the Royal Opera House remodelled its ground floor spaces to be more welcoming, and Manon is the ideal first-time ballet. Read more... |
Redd, Barbican Theatre review - hip hop gets the bluesWednesday, 02 October 2019![]()
There was a time when hip hop in a theatre was all about showing off. It was about dancers spinning on their head or their elbow so fast and for so long that the audience gaped in disbelief. Although it had long ago migrated from the concrete stairwells of inner city estates, the culture remained rooted in the idea of a battle, a dance-off, a show of virtuosity. Read more... |
Alvin Ailey, Programme C review - black, beautiful, brilliantThursday, 12 September 2019![]()
The Ailey company is that rare thing – a dance legend that’s even better than you remember. Read more... |
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Sadler's Wells review - Still more RevelationsFriday, 06 September 2019![]()
There is no equivalent of the Ailey phenomenon. This is a modern dance company with a New York square named after it. It’s a dance company that has performed at the inauguration of two presidents. Read more... |
Matthew Bourne's Romeo and Juliet, Sadler's Wells review - heart-stopping dramaSaturday, 10 August 2019![]()
Your first thought on hearing there's a new Matthew Bourne Romeo and Juliet might well be 'doesn't it exist already?' So obvious does this marriage of high drama, lush iconic score, and Britain's premier dance maker seem that you might well be forgiven for assuming it had happened years... Read more... |
The Bright Stream, Bolshoi Ballet review - a gem of a comedyThursday, 08 August 2019
Why is Alexei Ratmansky one of the greatest living choreographers of classical ballet? Read more... |
Spartacus, Bolshoi Ballet, Royal Opera House review - no other company could pull this offWednesday, 31 July 2019
The Bolshoi juggernaut has rolled into town and will be dominating the thoughts of ballet fans in and around the capital for the next three weeks. And what could be more dominating - or more quintessentially Bolshoi - than Yuri Grigorovitch's 1968 Spartacus? Read more... |
Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras, Sadler's Wells review - storming opening to flamenco festivalThursday, 04 July 2019![]()
Crowned queen of the percussive heel and the trouser suit, Sara Baras has the audience on its feet long before the final number of her show Sombras (Shadows). The Spanish superstar is a familiar presence at Sadler’s Wells, having fronted its annual two-week flamenco festival several times before. She’s a natural headliner with her big, glossy theatrics. Her current offering, though, is a thing of deep contrasts: light and dark, sound and silence, conviviality and yes, loneliness. Read more... |
Mari review - bittersweet drama with flairTuesday, 25 June 2019![]()
Mari is one part kitchen sink drama, one part dance performance, bringing a refreshing take on bereavement and family. Read more... |
The Mother, QEH review - Natalia goes psychoSaturday, 22 June 2019![]()
The publicity said it would be dark. But who would have guessed The Mother would be this dark? Read more... |
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