Best of the West
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” so began Charles Dickens’s masterpiece, A Tale of Two Cities.
FREE ARTICLEWorld-class review of ballet and dance.
Staging the biographical details of someone’s life is by no means an easy task; doing so for a figure who was complex and controversial amplifies this charge to a new level. When Queensland Ballet announced that it was bringing Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s “Coco Chanel: the Life of a Fashion Icon” to Brisbane, the reception was anticipatory but hesitant. Ochoa is a skilled choreographer with a talent for narrative ballets, but could Ochoa present the celebrity of Coco Chanel while also tackling her ties to the Nazi regime during World War II? To the ballet’s credit, it addresses these issues head-on. It presents the life of a woman whom the audience can appreciate but also not agree with. It makes smart dramaturgical choices and is a strong co-production by Queensland Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, and Atlanta Ballet.
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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” so began Charles Dickens’s masterpiece, A Tale of Two Cities.
FREE ARTICLEElphaba (Cynthia Erivo) steps down the steps, rests her hat on the floor and takes in the Ozdust Ballroom in Wicked. She elevates her arm, bringing her bent wrist to her temple.
Continue ReadingThe Sarasota Ballet does not do a “Nutcracker”—they leave that to their associate school. Instead, over the weekend, the company offered a triple bill of which just one ballet, Frederick Ashton’s winter-themed “Les Patineurs,” nodded at the season.
Continue ReadingI couldn’t stop thinking about hockey at the New York City Ballet’s “Nutcracker” this year, and not only because the stage appeared to be made of ice: there were a slew of spectacular falls one night I attended.
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