Ballo della regina, Live fire exercise, DGV. The Royal Ballet
…of the works of McGregor that I have seen to date In addition to Lamb and Underwood the cast comprised Cuthbertson, Polunin, Akane Takada, Federico Bonelli and Ricardo Cervera. Closing the evening, Wheeldon’s DGV was something of a letdown. DGV is set to a score by Michael Nyman, MGV (Musique à grande vitesse), and draws inspiration from the idea of a journey with the French very fast train (TGV) the source of both Nyman’s and Wheeldon’s title. T…
Giselle. English National Ballet
…. Photo: © Laurent Liotardo In 2016, Tamara Rojo, artistic director of the company, and herself still a performer in the lead role, commissioned this new version of the classic Giselle from Akram Khan, following a one-act work he had earlier made for the company. We have seen some of Khan’s work performed here by Sylvie Guillem several Festivals ago, and there are trailers aplenty on YouTube to give you the strength of his dance-making. It is poig…
New Zealand School of Dance: Performance Season 2023
…t in a series of arm movements. All of the students in both programs gave completely committed performances and they should know we wish every one of them a long and wonderful career. A note on strobe lighting: A warning in the foyer that there will be strobe, and also loud music, during the performance is a bit like the road sign ‘Beware of falling rocks.’ Not a lot you can do about it except close your eyes—which is what I always do when strob…
The Sleeping Beauty. Royal New Zealand Ballet/Orchestra Wellington
…ould hope to still see at some future date. The Sleeping Beauty is a major undertaking for any ballet company, demanding high technical skills from a large cast of soloists. Those we saw perform on opening night were all equal to the challenges and danced with much aplomb, carried by the quality of the Tchaikovsky composition, a masterpiece of instrumental wonder, with Hamish McKeich conducting Orchestra Wellington. My seat allowed a view into the…
Travelling with Colonel de Basil’s Ballets Russes
…ets out to inform the Australian public of the mechanics of moving a large company of dancers and other personnel around the world. She discusses, for example, the various lists that needed to be presented to customs and immigration officials on arrival in a foreign country and the procedures that were necessary when leaving the country. She describes the kind of containers used for different items and notes that the de Basil companies carried the…
Rainbow Serpent. Canberra International Music Festival 2021
…serpent-like characteristics to the ways in which that spirit engages the community that honours it. Tammi Gissell in Mundaguddah, 2021. Photo: © Peter Hislop The production and performance of Tammi Gissell’s Rainbow Serpent was commissioned and supported by Ausdance ACT and the Canberra International Music Festival. The other work with a dance component was Ngarukuruwala, a selection of action songs featuring the group Tiwi Strong Women, accompa…
The Happy Prince. The Australian Ballet
…ripped at the knees and occasionally a skateboard as a means of getting around. A commissioned score from Christopher Gordon added to what was an exceptional collaboration. I must admit, however, that I did find it hard to be convinced that the final beach scenes related to the migration to Australia of the so-called ‘£10 Poms’ (as I learnt later from the program notes). To me it was just Murphy in the same kind of mode as I thought was clear in h…
Inheriting dance. An invitation from Pina.
…ure, as it is, of course, for anyone interested in how one organisation is undertaking a particular project. Marc Wagenbach and Pina Bausch Foundation (eds), Inheriting dance: an invitation from Pina ([Transcript]: Bielenfeld, 2014). Paperback, 1992 pp., illustrated ISBN 978-3-8376-2785-5 See also the website of the Pina Bausch Foundation at this link. Michelle Potter, 22 March 2015 Featured image: Book cover, Inheriting dance. An invitation from…
Chroma, Art to Sky, Petite Mort & Sechs Tänze. The Australian Ballet
…hing else to the music he uses. Hugh Colman’s shadowy, upstage portal that comprised the set, lit by Rachel Burke to give a hint of the mysterious, were strong additions to the look of Art to Sky. Colman, Burke and Baynes work well together as collaborators and bring a sense of visual cohesion to each other’s work. The program concluded with Jiří Kylián’s companion pieces, Petite Mort and Sechs Tänze and it was a treat to see some more Kylián back…
Seeta Patel in Australia
…several other Canberra-based dance artists. Lea says her work will be informed by her intensive work with Patel but it will not be purely traditional Bharata Natyam. ‘I will be exploring,’ Lea says, ‘a conversation between Einstein and Rabindranath Tagore that took place in 1930. It relates to my ongoing exploration of previous relations between East and West, and my new enquiries into science and astronomy.’ Michelle Potter, 10 August 2016…