March 2008
Street dance – Romanian style
Policeman in the Romanian city of Timisoara are taking lessons from their resident ballet company to help them direct the traffic with more elegance and precision. The police authorities have signed their men up… Continue Reading
Bounce in Insane in the Brain at Peacock Theatre
The banning of this production’s poster by London Underground was always going to encourage interest. Could this be the reason behind the packed audience for the UK premier of *Insane in the Brain*? Or may… Continue Reading
Bounce in Insane in the Brain at Peacock Theatre
‘No one expects a show aimed at the young to be quite as bleak as the film but equating youthful rebellion with the horrors of mental hospitals is just silly.’
Bounce in Insane in the Brain at Peacock Theatre
‘I can’t recall when I last experienced such a fresh, fun and clearly told translation of a piece of contemporary literature into dance.’
Bounce in Insane in the Brain at Peacock Theatre
‘The dancing is slick and energetic. The strongest performance comes from guest dancer Teneisha Bonner, who plays Nurse Ratched. She moves boldly, while her solos “in private” do most to suggest the pent-up rage of this theme. The rest of the company…
Royal Ballet in Electric Counterpoint/ Afternoon of a Faun/ Tzigane/ A Month in the Country at Royal Opera House
‘The dancers (Sarah Lamb, Zenaida Yanowsky, Eric Underwood and Edward Watson), are faultless performers, ill-served by the work.’
Royal Ballet in Electric Counterpoint/ Afternoon of a Faun/ Tzigane/ A Month in the Country at Royal Opera House
‘What disappoints is choreography that refuses to assert itself with the striking singularity we know Wheeldon to be capable of… Jerome Robbins’s Afternoon of a Faun (1953), on the other hand, is a masterpiece of mood and erotic narcissism, especiall…
Divine Performing Arts in Shen Yun at Royal Festival Hall
‘There’s a creepy edge to this celebration of Chinese traditional art. The dances go from bland to pretty, with lines of dancers fluttering sleeves or posing in front of digital backdrops. Many numbers have a lurking evangelical air, offering crass solutions …
Royal Ballet in Electric Counterpoint/ Afternoon of a Faun/ Tzigane/ A Month in the Country at Royal Opera House
‘In his new Electric Counterpoint for the Royal Ballet, choreographer Christopher Wheeldon tries to catch up with the digital age… It’s a work with too much effort and not enough substance….In Afternoon of a Faun, Jerome Robbins sets Debussy’…
Royal Ballet in Electric Counterpoint/ Afternoon of a Faun/ Tzigane/ A Month in the Country at Royal Opera House
‘The visual effects are so many that it is easy to lose sight of the dance; but it is this that makes Electric Counterpoint so powerful; it is choreography of originality and complexity….In Robbins’s Afternoon of a Faun, Carlos Acosta and Sarah Lamb min…
Royal Ballet in Electric Counterpoint/ Afternoon of a Faun/ Tzigane/ A Month in the Country at Royal Opera House
Electric Counterpoint ‘The sum effect, I found, was fascinating: thought-provoking in terms of dance in the theatre, opening up – as new choreography should – vistas of meaning, possibilities of doctored movement, the whole made exhilarating by the qu…
Royal Ballet in Electric Counterpoint/ Afternoon of a Faun/ Tzigane/ A Month in the Country at Royal Opera House
‘With Electric Counterpoint, a new work which opened at Covent Garden on Thursday, 33-year-old Wheeldon has moved forward significantly. The lingering sense of deference to the 20th-century masters and their heritage has vanished, to be replaced by a dazzling surfa…
Royal Ballet in Electric Counterpoint/ Afternoon of a Faun/ Tzigane/ A Month in the Country at Royal Opera House
Performance: 28 February 2008 Christopher Wheeldon’s ‘Electric Counterpoint’ packs a lot into 30 minutes, effectively combining two ballets, as represented by the polarising segregation of musi… Continue Reading