My review of Invitation to the Dance was published online by Canberra CityNews on 25 April 2026, following its opening (and only) performance in Canberra. The review below is a slightly enlarged version of the CityNews post. Follow this link to the CityNews review. ************************** It was a surprise to discover that the music ensemble Salut! Baroque, which has been performing music
My review of Aladdin was published online by Canberra CityNews on 24 April 2026 following its opening on 23 April in the Canberra Theatre Centre’s Playhouse. The review below is a slightly enlarged version of the CityNews post. Here is a link to the CityNews review. ********************************** This is a surprising presentation of the story of Aladdin, a young man whose life
8 April 2026 (matinee). Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Almost 20 years ago, in October 1997, Bangarra Dance Theatre and the Australian Ballet collaborated on a production, Rites, choreographed by Stephen Page, then artistic director of Bangarra. It was a landmark event and the work has since been restaged and has toured and been the subject of a major
Perusing the Canberra program for Australian Dance Week I was instantly surprised by news of the opening celebration, which will take place on International Dance Day, 29 April. Ausdance ACT has programmed this event to occur on top of Mount Ainslie, a beautiful spot whose current vista would thrill the designers of Canberra, Walter Burley Griffin and his partner, Marion
Sydney Dance Company announced in March that Rafael Bonachela, artistic director of Sydney Dance Company since 2009, will leave the company in mid 2028. It was perhaps not surprising news but it certainly aroused many thoughts about Bonachela’s input into the company. What perhaps stands out, at least from my viewpoint, was the physicality that characterised Bonachela’s choreography. Bonachela did
27 March 2026. Glasshouse Theatre, Brisbane ’I don’t say we’re doing a ballet. I say we’re doing a production.’ Ivan Gil-Ortega giving his thoughts on Messa da Requiem ***************************** Messa da Requiem was created by Giuseppe Verdi in 1874. It was, as program notes tell us, a work that ‘transforms the traditional Catholic funeral mass into a gripping human drama’. The
My review of Swan? was published online by Canberra CityNews on 26 March 2026. The review below is a slightly enlarged version of the CityNews post. Here is a link to the CityNews review. **************************************** 25 March 2026. The B, Queanbeyan First staged in Moscow in 1877, Swan Lake is one of the oldest ballets in the current theatrical repertoire. It is
13 March 2026. St. James Theatre, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Artsreviewed by Jennifer Shennan The program opens with Lament, by Moss Te Ururangi Patterson, performed by New Zealand Dance Company. Shayne Carter’s music has fragments of the traditional chant, E Pã Tõ Hau, commemorating an historic battle between Maori and British forces. during mid-19th century Land Wars.
My review of Impulse was published online by Canberra CityNews on 15 March 2026. The review below is a slightly enlarged version of the CityNews post. Here is a link to the CityNews review. *************************** Australian Dance Party, Canberra’s professional dance company, is never one to perform in what we might call a conventional performance space. I don’t recall, for example, ever
via the ROH streaming platform I have to admit that I was bewildered by the name of Christopher Wheeldon’s 2018 work Corybantic Games. What did Corybantic actually mean and did it relate (as some reports or reviews suggest) to England’s hosting of the Olympic Games in 2012? Well, some research and a discussion with a colleague with a strong background