Dance
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, New Adventures, Sadler's Wells review - 30 years on, as bold and brilliant as everMonday, 16 December 2024
How do you refresh a masterpiece? Bringing back his first and still greatest hit, Swan Lake, Matthew Bourne seems to have changed only minor details since its 1995 premiere at Sadler’s Wells. Its core brilliance is untouched.As usual with Bourne,... Read more... |
Help to give theartsdesk a future!Tuesday, 31 December 2024
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.It followed some hectic and intensive months when a disparate and eclectic team of arts and culture writers went ahead with an ambitious plan – to... Read more... |
Nutcracker, English National Ballet, Coliseum review - Tchaikovsky and his sweet tooth rule supremeFriday, 20 December 2024
No new production of a beloved old ballet can please everyone, and there is none more beloved, or more frequently produced, than The Nutcracker. English National Ballet has staked its identity on performing Tchaikovsky’s last, most hummable and... Read more... |
Ballet Shoes, Olivier Theatre review - reimagined classic with a lively contemporary feelMonday, 09 December 2024
Those with treasured battered copies of Noel Streatfield’s 1936 story of three young adopted sisters in pre-war London may have thrilled to the idea of a version coming to the National Theatre. But be warned: jolly though it is, it’s not the story... Read more... |
Cinderella, Royal Ballet review - inspiring dancing, but not quite casting the desired spellMonday, 09 December 2024
Romeo and Juliet or Cinderella? Prokofiev’s two great scores have provided the Royal Ballet with a pair of popular hits, though Macmillan’s R&J has probably been the bigger draw, its Capulets ball music sampled everywhere from TV commercials to... Read more... |
First Person: singer-songwriter Sam Amidon on working in Dingle with Teaċ Daṁsa on 'Nobodaddy'Monday, 25 November 2024
Walking in the morning from my Airbnb along the road in West Kerry, a seven-minute walk with ocean on one side and farmland on the other, down to the Teaċ Daṁsa workshop space. I would bring all possible clothes for the short walk because the... Read more... |
Akram Khan, GIGENIS, Sadler’s Wells review - now 50, Khan returns to his rootsSaturday, 23 November 2024
London-born Akram Khan has come a long way in a 35-year career. He performed as a young teen in Peter Brook’s production of The Mahabharata, then progressed to dance training first in kathak then in contemporary dance. He then created his own... Read more... |
Maddaddam, Royal Ballet review - superb dancing in a confusing frameSaturday, 16 November 2024
Valiant souls who have recently read the Margaret Atwood trilogy on which this new Wayne McGregor piece for the Royal Ballet is based will be at home with its time-shifting eco-sci-fi narrative. The rest of us, not so much.The appeal of the basic... Read more... |
Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring/common ground[s], Sadler’s Wells review - raw and devastatingSaturday, 09 November 2024
It takes a lot to make an audience not want to head to the bar at the interval. But the preparation of the stage floor for The Rite of Spring in the version by Pina Bausch is a piece of theatre in itself, and many at Sadler’s Wells couldn’t tear... Read more... |
Legacy, Linbury Theatre review - an exceptional display of black dance prowessSaturday, 02 November 2024
In the foyer of the Linbury Theatre is an exhibition which gives a very upbeat account of the presence of black dancers in British ballet. Photographs dating back to the 1950s, 60s and 70s show practitioners of extraordinary physicality and verve,... Read more... |
Encounters, Royal Ballet review - exciting mixed bill with a gem of a premiereThursday, 24 October 2024
In 2022, the American choreographer Pam Tanowitz made a duet on Royal Ballet principals William Bracewell and Anna Rose O’Sullivan, which they performed at the company’s Diamond Celebration. That piece has now evolved into a true gem.Or Forevermore... Read more... |
National Ballet of Canada, Sadler's Wells review - see this, and know what dance can doSaturday, 05 October 2024
What to expect of the National Ballet of Canada since its last London visit 11 years ago? Dance with an eco-message, a world-peace message, or more visible diversity on stage?It's all there in the homegrown triple bill the company has brought to... Read more... |
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