World-class review of ballet and dance.
Belgian choreographer and film maker Wim Vandekeybus’ work is characterised by absolute extremes: jaw-dropping theatricality; the use and abuse of unusual props, athleticism, frenzy, danger and discomfort. He doesn't deal in soft options; rather, he credits his audience with enough intelligence to enjoy, pick apart and understand his challenging, often dreamlike pieces. The scenography and sound are as integral to the work as the steps.
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Pascal Merighi’s raffish confidence dazzled when I first saw him dance in Pina Bausch’s “For the Children of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He all but hurled dancer Ditta Miranda Jasjfi around his waist as if she were a lifeless rag doll.
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The National Ballet of Japan's performance of “The Sleeping Beauty” at Hatsudai's mammoth New National Theatre Tokyo was actually a late replacement for artistic director Miyako Yoshida's “selection” which was scrapped near the end of last year.
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As Glasgow's famous Tramway venue remains closed until further notice, Unlimited have commissioned a short film screening for those missing this superb live dance festival. This particular film is a superb example of the artists who would be participating on the stage throughout the spring, and feels entirely apposite, given its overarching theme.
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And here we are—in Sydney’s Roslyn Packer Theatre. Everyone is wearing masks, yet the theatre is buzzing. The anticipation is palpable—the Sydney Dance Company is about to take the main stage for the first time since late 2019. The work is Rafael Bonachela's “Impermanence.”
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The task at hand is a review of “Romeo and Juliet,” but more on that in a minute. What needs to be said first is this: In our moment of political and pandemic chaos, Peter Boal is doing an extraordinary job of connecting his company to its public with a spirit of empathy, vulnerability, and humility.
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The American Ballet Theatre Studio Company aired performances of new works and excerpted classics over two nights this week, for free on YouTube. Actually, the shows were billed as two halves of one Winter Festival performance, separated by a 23-hour intermission. I appreciated the digestibility of this scenario, for watching ballet online is not the same as watching it in person—it is much harder to focus on a computer screen than a massive stage.
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The last decade of Christopher Wheeldon’s career has gone by in a blur. The global nature of the ballet world means that he is constantly on the move, finishing one project even as another is taking shape somewhere else, demanding his attention. When the pandemic hit, he had two enormous projects on the way, a new evening-length ballet for the Royal Ballet in London, and a musical headed to Broadway. Both are now on hold until theaters open again. But he hasn’t been idle. In 2020, he took on several projects, most of them far less formal or elaborate than...
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Come for the choreographers, stay for the dancers. A collaboration between Sadler’s Wells and BBC Arts, Dancing Nation presents a selection of new and restaged works from emerging and established artists across the UK over 3 hour-long episodes. Most of the pre-recorded performances were filmed on grand stages across the UK (including the Sadler’s Wells main stage), but some pop up in the foyer or, in the case of Oona Doherty’s seminal work Hope Hunt & The Ascension into Lazarus, explode onto the streets of Belfast.
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When I caught up with Tamisha Guy, in mid-January, she was in the middle of a creative residency at Kaatsbaan with the company of which she is a member, A.I.M. It was her day off, and she had been on a walk around the gorgeous grounds, once home to a horse farm belonging to Eleanor Roosevelt’s grandparents. Last summer, a simple wooden stage was erected in the middle of the main meadow there, making it possible to hold an outdoor dance festival. Tamisha Guy performed on that stage with her friend and former colleague Lloyd Knight, of the Martha Graham...
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Dance Camera West (DCW), the festival dedicated to the intersection of cinematography and choreography, was co-founded in Los Angeles in 2001 by Lynette Kessler and Kelly Hargraves, proving that the art form has come a long way since Thomas Edison hand-tinted the swirling skirts of modern dance pioneer Loie Fuller in the film version of the 1905 Danse Serpentine. And while the festival has undergone several directorial changes since its inception, Hargraves once again became its executive and artistic helmer since 2018.
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Officially appointed director of La Scala Ballet on December 1st, Manuel Legris has been working with the company since last autumn. Thanks to him, the dancers, after many months in lockdown away from the theatre, could resume their daily training. Their discipline has been such that the troupe remains Covid-free, in spite of more than 50 cases being recorded among the chorus and the orchestra.
Continue ReadingWatching Matthew Bourne's reworked version of the “star-cross'd lovers,” I was briefly reminded of Veronica, played by Winona Ryder, in the dark 1988 comedy by Daniel Waters and Michael Lehmann, Heathers, and her line, “my teen angst bullshit has a body count.” Yes, this is the darker side of Bourne's repertoire,...
Continue ReadingThe choreographer Alexei Ratmansky reflects on the war in Ukraine, the connection between geopolitics and ballet, and joining the house of Balanchine.
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Beneath blue California skies, manicured trees, and the occasional hum of an overhead airplane, Tamara Rojo took the Frost Amphitheater stage at Stanford University to introduce herself as the new artistic director of San Francisco Ballet.
Continue ReadingAfter a week of the well-balanced meal that is “Jewels”—the nutritive, potentially tedious, leafy greens of “Emeralds,” the gamy, carnivorous “Rubies,” and the decadent, shiny white mountains of meringue in “Diamonds”—the New York City Ballet continued its 75th Anniversary All-Balanchine Fall Season with rather more dyspeptic fare.
Continue ReadingAn “Ajiaco” is a type of soup common to Colombia, Cuba, and Peru that combines a variety of different vegetables, spices, and meats.
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