May 2008
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Antony Gormley, Monks from the Shaolin Temple in Sutra at Sadler's Wells
‘Only at the end does the choreographer join in the prevailing movement. And it is only at the end, in a crescendo of whirling, percussive, joyful kung-fu-style action that the work suddenly achieves a coming-together of all its ideas and finds a kind of magical re…
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Antony Gormley, Monks from the Shaolin Temple in Sutra at Sadler's Wells
‘..a dazzling alliance of space and content that grants kinetic life to Gormley’s art and conceptual discipline to Cherkaoui’s philosophical choreography.’
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Antony Gormley, Monks from the Shaolin Temple in Sutra at Sadler's Wells
‘This unique, profoundly imagined work takes the concept of cultural exchange to a new level.’
Review: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Antony Gormley, Monks from the Shaolin Temple in Sutra at Sadler's Wells
If one spends a whole life devoted to a particular skill then the product of this singular endeavour is bound to be exceptional brilliance. So it is with these Buddhist monks, only they haven’t just spent … Continue Reading
Havana Rakatan at Peacock Theatre
‘The rumba is more authentic than found in dance halls and the rhythm of the final salsa dance is contagious.’
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Antony Gormley, Monks from the Shaolin Temple in Sutra at Sadler's Wells
‘Cherkaoui is called a choreographer, but he’s really our conscience. True, Sutra is slow, and more than a little po-faced, yet this silent drama never browbeats and both its subject and means are truly innovative.’
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Antony Gormley, Monks from the Shaolin Temple in Sutra at Sadler's Wells
‘The moves are still remarkable. These men do backflips, twisting jumps with pumping limbs, or fall flat from the height of a leap.’
News: Street dance on stage
As Kate Prince’s Into the Hoods has its West End season extended until the end of August, Sanjoy Roy asks whether Hip Hop dance can ‘keep it real’ in the theatre… With a growing number of… Continue Reading
Review: Tero Saarinen Dance Company in Next of Kin at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Soutbank Centre
Next of Kin opened with a shadow of Jarmo Saari, the composer and live musician. As he held a glass of water, walked in a circle and rubbed the glass’ rim, the magic of the water genie made an eerie, haunt… Continue Reading
Royal Ballet in Dances at a Gathering / The Dream at Royal Opera House
‘Dances goes on in this vein, spinning sequences of dazzling innovation with an almost throwaway air. Space is a constant feature. Against a clear blue sky, dancers have room to run and leap and fly and gaze into vast distances.’
Rambert Dance Company in Mixed Bill at Sadler's Wells
‘[Carnival of the Animals] The ultimate highlight, though, both musically and visually, is the glistening Aquarium sequence, as the full complement of Rambert dancers don long, blue satin gloves for a Hollywoodesque display of synchronised swimming.’
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui in Myth at Sadler's Wells
‘There are many striking images in a work of much visual and some kinetic interest, but its meaning is a jumble.’
Rambert Dance Company in Mixed Bill at Sadler's Wells
‘[Scribblings] The music, Chamber Symphony, by John Adams, is cheerfully cacophonous or abrasive. Under a big, swinging light, the dancers rush, tumble, slide, roll at a frantic pace, like a swarm of ants or a kindergarten let loose. The first and third sections ar…
Royal Ballet in Dances at a Gathering / The Dream at Royal Opera House
‘Robbins’s choreography, classical with folk-dance inflexions, pours out with cornucopian invention: lyrical, witty, crisp and brisk, whimsical and poignant, with many a heart-stopping moment.’
Royal Ballet in Dances at a Gathering / The Dream at Royal Opera House
‘Johan Kobborg, in fact, is rather better than Rudolf Nureyev as the enigmatic figure who opens and closes the piece. His self-deprecating humanity strikes the more resonant note and the quiet finish of his dancing has greater poignancy.’