Our review of a thrilling first night with the Bolshoi Ballet, Spartacus and the mighty Ivan Vasiliev, which we wrote for Classical Music website Bachtrack: The Bolshoi are back in town and, judging from yesterday’s opening performance of Spartacus, they are here to show off their characteristically big and bold style of ballet. Spartacus is a spectacle [...]
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In an interesting piece for The new Criterion novelist Laura James recently debated the watering-down of meaning and depth in modern ballet, arguing that: If these dances were houses, no one would be able to live in them. And no one does. I think I might like to live inside Chroma though. Just for a [...]
The Royal Ballet’s 2009/2010 season is coming to a close. In the first of two final mixed bills audiences had the opportunity to see a new work by an exciting young choreographer. Bookended by Christopher Wheeldon’s ballet-meets-art-installation Electric Counterpoint and Mats Ek’s irreverent Carmen was Asphodel Meadows, Liam Scarlett’s first ballet for the ROH main [...]
The past few weeks have felt like Ashton fest at The Royal Ballet. With two of his most loved full-length ballets in repertoire, Cinderella and La Fille Mal Gardée (which just ended its run), we could immerse ourselves in his lovely choreography. Ashton’s tricky combo of fast footwork and supple upper body may be testing [...]
While full length pieces such as Mayerling, Manon, Anastasia and Romeo and Juliet invite reflection on MacMillan’s recurring theme of the Outsider, a mixed bill of his one act ballets, such as the Royal Ballet’s latest, gives audiences a chance to shift focus and contemplate MacMillan’s wide range. From academic classical to modern ballet, from [...]
The latest run of Romeo and Juliet continues, each cast bringing a different interpretation and/or accentuating different aspects of physicality. Kenneth MacMillan‘s expressive choreography suits so many different types of dancers: from the lyrical to the technician; from young promising soloists who can emphasize naïveté to form a realistic portrayal of a young couple in [...]
