August 2007
The Bolshoi Ballet in Spartacus at The London Coliseum
‘What the ballet offers Acosta is a huge and demanding technical display. We know he can jump high and spin forever, but the scale and stamina needed for Spartacus is something else again. Then there’s Grigorovich’s spectacular partnering, those moments…
Ballet Boyz in Ballet for the People at Royal Festival Hall
‘They called it a “Ballet for the People” gala, and so it was. No one dressed up. No florists were involved. The Festival Hall was simply full of happy, relaxed individuals pleased to be back in this big, friendly auditorium restored to its democratic 1…
Ballet Boyz in Ballet for the People at Royal Festival Hall
‘Michael Nunn and Billy Trevitt, aka the Ballet Boyz, have done for classical and contemporary dance what Strictly Come Dancing has done for ballroom: got it on television, unpicked some of its complexity, and made it seem a lot less weird…’
Trafalgar Square Festival: Inspired by India at Trafalgar Square
Over the past few years, the Trafalgar Square Festival has hosted large scale outdoor dance performances, mixing ages, cultures and styles, bringing innovative work to its audiences. The 2007 Festival which is i… Continue Reading
The Bolshoi Ballet in Spartacus at The London Coliseum
***‘Carlos Acosta made his London debut in Spartacus, and it was every bit as spectacular as you’d expect. … if you combined a Broadway show with a Hollywood blockbuster and a Red Square military parade it would still be only half the size of Spartacus…
The Bolshoi Ballet in Spartacus at The London Coliseum
‘It is one of the blockbuster ballets in the Bolshoi’s repertoire. Tonight (6 August), Cuban superstar Carlos Acosta becomes the first Westerner to dance it on a British stage… ‘
The Bolshoi Ballet in Le Corsaire at The London Coliseum
‘Now that pirates are all the rage again, it was timely of the Bolshoi Ballet to open its three-week season here with this new production by young artistic director Alexei Ratmansky…’
The Bolshoi Ballet in La Bayadere at The London Coliseum
***‘Alexei Ratmansky has done an extraordinary job during the last three years in sorting out the cupboards of the Bolshoi’s repertory..’
The Bolshoi Ballet in Le Corsaire at The London Coliseum
‘On Monday, in front of an audience which included Lady Thatcher and Raine Spencer, the Bolshoi Ballet launched their biggest London season to date with a huge-scale new production of Le Corsaire… and it’s hugely entertaining… All of it shows off …
The Bolshoi Ballet in La Bayadere at The London Coliseum
‘On Monday, in front of an audience which included Lady Thatcher and Raine Spencer, the Bolshoi Ballet launched their biggest London season to date with a huge-scale new production of Le Corsaire… and it’s hugely entertaining… All of it shows off …
The Bolshoi Ballet in La Bayadere at The London Coliseum
‘Petipa’s La Bayadère, a preposterous tale of a temple dancer, her warrior lover and his royal fiancée, was set in the jungles and palaces of India and originally featured a betrothal procession for more than 200 dancers and a stage elephant. The version un…
The Bolshoi Ballet in Le Corsaire at The London Coliseum
‘The Coliseum was packed with luminaries for last Monday’s opening of the Bolshoi Ballet‘s latest lavish London season. There were both notables of the ballet world and some (such as Baroness Thatcher) from other fields. The stage was just as dense with…
LCDSchool of 2007
Graduates of the London Contemporary Dance School this year are going on to great things. Ninety percent of the 40 final year students have dance related work lined up for the Autumn and a record 16 students wer… Continue Reading
Carmen Jones at Royal Festival Hall
‘The one moment you know you are in the musical rather than the opera is in Beat Out Dat Rhythm On a Drum, magnificently belted out here by Brenda Edwards and riotously choreographed by Rafael Bonachela, when Bizet’s gypsy dance whirls into a stomping perc…
Carmen Jones at Royal Festival Hall
Performance: 1 Aug 07 The dance appeal of Jude Kelly’s new production of *Carmen Jones* _is that Rafael Bonachela, her Artist-in-Residence at The Southbank Centre, has choreographed the work. This is noth… Continue Reading