dance
theartsdesk in Hamburg: Ghost Light - a ballet in the time of coronaSaturday, 26 September 2020![]()
So the Royal Ballet is to make a live comeback, for one night only, on 9 October. Fielding the entire company of 100 dancers, suitably distanced, the enterprise is being hailed as a triumph of logistics. And so it is. But the fact remains that the vast majority of its audience will be watching on a computer screen at home. Read more... |
Dancing at Dusk: A Moment with Pina Bausch’s 'The Rite of Spring' review - an explosive African riteSaturday, 04 July 2020![]()
There’s sun and sand, and both are golden – but this is no holiday beach. Distantly, out of focus, you can make out a man with a donkey and cart. Off-camera, some locals kick a ball. A square of sand about the size of a tennis court has been carefully raked in preparation for a performance – a unique performance, as it turns out. Read more... |
The Thread, Sadler's Wells Digital Stage review - Greek folk and contemporary uniteMonday, 20 April 2020![]()
The latest Sadler’s Wells digital offering is 2019’s The Thread, a luminous collaboration between choreographer Russell Maliphant and Oscar-winning composer Vangelis (Chariots of Fire, Blade Runner) for the Athens-based production company Lavris. Read more... |
Palermo, Palermo review - free to view PinaMonday, 20 April 2020![]()
It starts with an almighty boom. Without warning, a breeze-block wall that spans the width of the stage collapses into billowing clouds of dust. As the air clears, we see a stage strewn with rubble, and picking her way determinedly through it blonde Julie Shanahan, shod – as are all Pina Bausch's women – in high heels, absurdly impractical for walking, for dancing, or even for standing still. Read more... |
Rumpelstiltskin, Sadler's Wells Digital Stage review - spins an engaging yarn for young audiencesMonday, 06 April 2020![]()
The latest in Sadler’s Wells’ Digital Stage programme – an impressively assembled online offering to keep audiences entertained during the shutdown – is balletLORENT’s family-friendly dance-theatre production Rumpelstiltskin. It was streamed as a "matinee" on Friday afternoon, and is avail Read more... |
Richard Alston Dance Company, Final Edition, Sadler's Wells review - farewell and thank you, Sir RichardTuesday, 10 March 2020![]()
Hard as it is to imagine the British dance landscape without Richard Alston, we’re going to have to get used to it. Read more... |
Isadora Now, Barbican Theatre review - a little piece of historyThursday, 27 February 2020![]()
Mention Isadora Duncan and the best response you’re likely to get is “Wasn’t she that dancer who died when her scarf got caught in the wheels of a Bugatti?” The closing scene of the 1968 biopic starring Vanessa Redgrave seems to have blotted out everything Duncan actually achieved. Read more... |
Alina, Sadler's Wells review - I think therefore I danceTuesday, 25 February 2020
It’s common to see the term “vanity project” applied to self-produced shows by ballet stars, but Alina – the first such London venture by Alina Cojocaru – was quite the opposite of vain. Read more... |
Message in a Bottle, Peacock Theatre review - a hiphop singalongSaturday, 22 February 2020![]()
It’s hard enough to imagine hip hop set to the songs of Sting, but a hip hop show in which 27 songs by Sting laid end to end are made to tell a story about refugees? That’s the unlikely latest offering from the choreographer Kate Prince. Read more... |
The Cellist/Dances at a Gathering, Royal Ballet review - A grand love affair with a celloWednesday, 19 February 2020![]()
The cello is the stringed instrument most closely aligned to the human voice. It has a human shape, too, so in theory it was a short step for choreographer Cathy Marston to give it a living, breathing presence in her ballet about the legendary cellist Jacqueline du Pré. But what a giant leap of imagination that turned out to be. Read more... |
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