by Linda on July 30, 2010
Is this ballet for you?
Go If: You love bold and spicy ballets à la Don Quixote. You’re all for feisty leading ladies and bravura dancing.
Skip If: You can’t stand an endless parade of divertissements and folk dancing. You think serious historical plays should not be turned into light entertainment.
Dream Cast
Laurencia: Natalia Osipova / Maria Alexandrova; Frondoso: [...]
Tagged as:
Dramatic & Intense,
Frondoso,
Fuente Ovejuna,
Kaleria Fedicheva,
Kirov Ballet,
Laurencia,
Light & Fluffy,
Lope de Vega,
Maria Alexandrova,
Maya Plisetskaya,
Mikhail Messerer,
Mikhailovsky,
Mikhailovsky Ballet,
Natalia Dudinskaya,
Nijinsky,
Ninel Kurgapkina,
Rudolf Nureyev,
Soviet Ballet,
Vakhtang Chabukiani,
Vera Tsignadze,
Yuri Soloviev
Japan is a balletomane’s paradise: plenty of local and visiting ballet companies, glitzy guest stars (some of them are here on a regular basis) and, of course, the best in ballet merchandise. In the trendiest Tokyo districts flagship dance stores sell premium quality dancewear and ballet shoes, along with – for those more intent on [...]
Tagged as:
Alina Cojocaru,
Bolshoi,
Coppélia,
Daniil Simkin,
Graeme Murphy,
Inoue Ballet,
Japan,
Johan Kobborg,
Macmillan,
Mariinsky,
Mayerling,
Noriko Kobayashi Ballet Theatre,
Paris Opera Ballet,
Royal Ballet,
Royal Ballet Tour,
Stars of the Russian Ballet,
Swan Lake,
Tetsuma Kumakawa,
Tetsuma Kumakawa Ballet,
The Australian Ballet,
The Ballet Bag in Japan,
Tokyo Ballet,
Tokyo City Ballet
Is this ballet for you?
Go if: Red Hot Chili Carmen
Skip if: Faux French or Pastiche Spanish are not your thing
Dream Cast
For Carmen Tamara Rojo because she is Spanish and fiery, plus her surname matches Carmen’s legendary red dress.
Background
Carmen goes back to 1845 when Prosper Mérimée’s torrid novella used to be passed around privately amongst gentlemen. [...]
Tagged as:
1-act,
Alberto Alonso,
Ana Laguna,
Ballet Nacional de Cuba,
Bennet Gartside,
Bizet,
Bolshoi,
Bullfighter,
Carmen,
Carmen Suite,
Cullberg Ballet,
Danila Korsuntsev,
Davide Bombana,
Dee Conway,
Don José,
Dramatic & Intense,
Escamillo,
Evgeny Ivanchenko,
Fate,
Irma Nioradze,
John Cranko,
Lauren Cuthbertson,
Mariinsky,
Mats Ek,
Maya Plisteskaya,
Micaela,
Mikhail Baryshnikov,
Natasha Razina,
National Ballet of Canada,
NBC,
Prosper Merimée,
Renée Zizi Jeanmaire,
Robert Alston,
Rodion Shchedrin,
Roland Petit,
Scottish Ballet,
Tamara Rojo,
Ulyana Lopatkina,
Yekaterina Kondaurova
by Linda on April 15, 2010
The Royal Ballet’s current revival of MacMillan’s Concerto, The Judas Tree and ragtime ballet Elite Syncopations closes tonight. We send it off with this quick look at Ian Spurling’s stylish lycra costumes which decorate Elite Syncopations with equal doses of psychedelia and 20s dance hall glitz.
Background & Context
1974 had been a particularly challenging year for [...]
Tagged as:
1-act,
Abstract,
Alaskan Rag,
Ballet,
Bethena Waltz,
BRB,
Calliope Rag,
Costumes,
David Wall,
Elite Syncopations,
Ian Spurling,
Jennifer Penney,
Kenneth MacMillan,
Merle Park,
Monica Mason,
Ragtime,
Scott Joplin,
Stop-Time Rag,
The Golden Hours,
Wayne Sleep
by Emilia on April 13, 2010
Is this ballet for you?
Go if: You love the thought of a mashup between The Sleeping Beauty (a classical, grand ballet) and a funny work like La Fille Mal Gardée.
Skip if: Certain people find Prokofiev’s haunting score a tad too moody. And you may want to skip the Ashton version if Panto interspersed with dancing [...]
Tagged as:
32 fouettées en tournant,
Alina Cojocaru,
Ashley Page,
Ashton,
Ballet,
Ben Stevenson,
Bolshoi,
BRB,
Cecchetti,
Charles Perrault,
Christine Haworth,
Cinderella,
full-length,
Galina Ulanova,
Gary Avis,
Hopelessly Romantic,
Ivan Putrov,
James Kudelka,
Jean-Denis Malclès,
Johan Kobborg,
Judith Mackrell,
Konstantin Sergeyev,
Lev Ivanov,
Light & Fluffy,
Mariinsky,
Michael Corder,
Michael Somes,
Moira Shearer,
National Ballet,
NBC,
Nikolai Volkov,
Nureyev,
Olga Lepeshinskaya,
Pamela May,
Petipa,
Pierina Legnani,
Prokofiev,
Ratmansky,
Robert Helpmann,
Roberta Marquez,
Rotislav Zakharov,
Sarah Lamb,
Scottish Ballet,
Stepsisters,
Tamara Rojo,
Toer van Schayk,
Wayne Sleep,
Wendy Ellis Somes,
Yuri Possokhov
by Linda on March 24, 2010
Is this ballet for you?
Go If: Sweeping & romantic Pas de Deux and the Swiss precision of a great corps de ballet are your bread & butter, especially when there are no tutus in sight.
Skip If: You are more at ease with narrative MacMillan. Concerto is MacMillan threading Balanchine territory.
Dream Cast
First movement: Steven McRae [...]
Tagged as:
Abstract,
Concerto,
Deutsche Oper Ballet,
Didi Carli,
Falco Kapuste,
Jürgen Rose,
John Cranko,
Lynn Seymour,
Macmillan,
One act,
Rudolf Holz,
Shostakovich,
Silvia Kesselhelm
