Spain
LIMF: La Maldición De Poe, Purcell Room/ Flesh and Blood & Fish and Fowl, Barbican PitThursday, 20 January 2011![]() The up - which I’m sorry not to have reported on before it ended last night - was the Spanish puppetry troupe Teatro Corsario, who made their hour’s strut and fret upon the stage in the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room a pleasingly diverting wee... Read more... |
Mainetti, Perianes, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pons, BarbicanSaturday, 15 January 2011![]() This was a programme born for marketing cliché: banish the winter blues by bathing in Latin American/Iberian warmth. And it turned out to be true, by virtue of an unexpected watershed. How did the BBC Symphony strings manage to be first among the... Read more... |
Art Gallery: Unseen Salvador DalíFriday, 03 December 2010![]() The unseen Dalí? Surely not. Anyone who ever popped into Dalí Universe, the now defunct gallery on the South Bank which was devoted to the flamboyant Surrealist's work, might well ask. Since there have been so many editions of his well-known... Read more... |
Any Human Heart, Channel 4Monday, 22 November 2010![]() Any period drama that crops up on Sunday nights is now automatically billed as a potential replacement for Downton Abbey. Any Human Heart has duly been described thus, but isn't. Converted into a four-part series from William Boyd's 2002 novel, with... Read more... |
Paco de Lucía, Royal Festival HallFriday, 19 November 2010![]() The sense of occasion around flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía’s return to London was palpable. The Royal Festival Hall was heaving. Queues at the bars before the show and during the interval were three or four deep. Spanish was everywhere. And that... Read more... |
My Summer Reading: Dancer Carlos AcostaFriday, 03 September 2010![]() Carlos Acosta is not just a superstar dancer with the Royal Ballet and around the world, he is an avid reader - and indeed writer. After writing his autobiography No Way Home, he has also scripted dance shows and is now writing a novel.... Read more... |
My Summer Reading: Ballerina Tamara RojoThursday, 19 August 2010![]() In the first of a short summer series in which artists and performers tell theartsdesk about what they're reading, ballerina Tamara Rojo talks about the books she's taken with her on holiday, and what she's enjoyed reading. We run short... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Madrid: City of PhotographySunday, 08 August 2010![]() International photography festivals are rivalling rock festivals this summer - and rock festivals are featuring photographers. PhotoEspaña (PHE) Madrid beats the lot. Packed with surprise revelations, with central Madrid as the main stage, the... Read more... |
Don Quixote, Bolshoi Ballet, Royal Opera HouseSaturday, 07 August 2010![]() There is a moment when you see dancers at their absolute peak that notches a bit of history in your memory - you never forget when you see it happen. In my area of contemporary choreography you can’t measure it in those terms but you can with... Read more... |
Confirmation: Nacho Duato to lead St Petersburg ballet companyWednesday, 28 July 2010Confirmation today of the astonishing news from Russia - Nacho Duato will indeed become the new director of the Mikhailovsky Ballet, St Petersburg’s second company, from the New Year. The Spanish contemporary choreographer will be the first... Read more... |
The House of Bilquis Bibi, Hampstead TheatreTuesday, 27 July 2010![]() What makes a good piece of theatre? Is it the atmosphere generated? Is it the acting? Or is it the ability to communicate ideas clearly? I don’t mind if sometimes I can’t hear or understand words. In the past, I have been overwhelmed by Polish... Read more... |
Laurencia, Mikhailovsky Ballet, London ColiseumTuesday, 20 July 2010![]() Rape, marauding soldiers, peasants on the warpath and a flash hero - are we at the Bolshoi’s Spartacus once again? No, we’re at the Mikhailovsky Ballet down the road at the Coliseum where a rather more Erroll Flynn-type spectacle is being offered,... Read more... |
