May 2009
Royal Ballet in New Works at Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House
The artistic health of a dance company can be judged in many ways, but the ability to generate interesting choreographic themes and ideas from within is an acid test. What would the Royal Ballet be today without… Continue Reading
Rambert Dance Company in Hush/ Scribblings/ A Linha Curva at Sadler's Wells
‘In place of the abstract athleticism of recent years, Hush is a human-scale dance-drama about a family of what look like saltimbanques.’
Pictures from an Exhibition at Young Vic
‘In collaboration with choreographer Frauke Requardt, Kramer has created a spectacularly grotesque vision, integrating dialogue and monologue with dance and action that is often impressive, occasionally beguiling but emotionally sterile.’
Pictures from an Exhibition at Young Vic
‘You either resist it as maudlin gothic hokum or go with the flow. I’m in the second camp all the way, chiefly because the music itself is so utterly irresistible and the production, despite the occasional lapse into modern dance cliché (Kramer himself co-ch…
Where are all the women?
A press conference launching the new season at Sadler’s Wells focused on two highlights – Svapnagata a two week festival of Indian dance and music programmed by dance artist Akram Khan and composer N… Continue Reading
Rambert Dance Company in Hush/ Scribblings/ A Linha Curva at Sadler's Wells
On Doug Varone’s Scribblings ‘What impressed me at this viewing were the tensions of the central duet (admirably danced by Malgorzata Dzierzon and Thomasin Gulgeç), an obsessive encounter between lovers who both reject and attract each other. It is disquieti…
Pictures from an Exhibition at Young Vic
‘Some sections are close to pure movement. Requardt creates superb effects with her eight dancer-actors: her language ranges from a minimalist, spiralling ensemble of rare serenity to a grotesquely expressionist staging of Mussorgsky’s first nightmare,’
Rambert Dance Company in Hush/ Scribblings/ A Linha Curva at Sadler's Wells
On A Linha Curve ‘It is invigorating stuff, an interesting attempt to bridge the gap between street and stage, and Rambert perform it with panache.’
Pictures from an Exhibition at Young Vic
‘Requardt’s choreography uses simple steps and judicious repetition to create resonant images of suffering and desire.’
Breakin' Convention at Sadler's Wells
‘This year’s show was the best yet….Korean stars MyoSung bring the temperature back up, with a demented show about dance surviving dictatorship. Their hip-hop is full of whirling gymnastics and in their final, exuberant dance, they flip right off the…
Royal Ballet in Les Sylphides /Sensorium / The Firebird at Royal Opera House
‘Yuhui Choe is ideally cast as a sylph. She moves with delicate phrasing that never becomes coy. She ended her solo, the Prelude, on a held pose that seemed to float. Choe and the other lead sylphs, Lauren Cuthbertson and Laura Morera, bring out the texture of F…
High kicks
A new study shows that ballet dancers at Covent Garden have progressively been lifting their legs higher over the last 50 years. Read more in the Observer, 10 May 09 Continue Reading
Brighton Festival debut
Hofesh Shechter presents two new works this week as part of the Brighton Festival, marking the three year residency that his company has at the Dome in the seaside city. The Art of Not Looking Back has been com… Continue Reading
Freddie Opoku-Addaie in Mixed Bill at The Place
‘Talent-spotters take heed: you will be hearing more about Freddie Opoku-Addaie, especially once he begins a two-year stint as an associate artist of the Royal Opera House in September.’
Clod Ensemble in Under Glass at Village Underground
‘What does it amount to? That rather depends on you: its imagery is dramatic but it is not drama; figures move, but it is not dance. I found it beautifully produced, but too intangible.’