Nutcracker: The Story of Clara. The Australian Ballet (2017)
…ffect. The juxtaposition of wealth and privilege and lack of means to live comfortably was made clear with this small touch. Azoury and Jarryd Madden danced strongly in the leading roles of Clara the Ballerina and the Beloved Officer, as did Andrew Wright as the Nutcracker Prince. Azoury has all the technique ready and waiting but just needs a little more feeling of freedom to make those curving, swirling lifts of the various pas de deux look as s…
Christopher Wheeldon triple bill. The Royal Ballet
…lanatory notes and articles, but any work for the stage needs to be easily understood, I believe, without having to resort to reading a convoluted story in a program. Circumstances were such that I was unable to stay for the final Wheeldon work, Within the golden hour. But perhaps it was just as well. I am able to retain, as a result, an image of a work I enjoyed immensely on a previous occasion in San Francisco. Michelle Potter, 12 March 2016 Joh…
On stage alone. Claudia Gitelman and Barbara Palfy (eds)
…a cow or a kitten or a goldfish in a bowl, generate a range of gender and identity issues and contain a wealth of ‘hidden narratives’. Ross examines four works in detail and concludes that Carlson’s solos with animals ‘are tender but compelling reminders of how the act of performing fractures but also reunites us, affording the solitary dancer the possibility of never really dancing alone’. Other solo performers whose work is highlighted in On sta…
Dance diary. August 2018
…in 1930s bohemian Sydney and how she came to the arts. Kramer’s memoir is being published by Melbourne Books and a crowd-funding appeal to assist with publishing costs is current until mid September. See this link. The subtitle of the book—’Stories from the Philip Street Courtyard’—is interesting. So many dancers from the 1930s and 1940s mention Sydney’s Phillip Street as a place where they lived, including Tamara Tchinarova Finch who lived in a P…
The best of … 2022
…l a number of online offerings to add to the year’s viewing of course, and online watching has become part of my life I think. As I did in 2021, I have chosen just five performances as my highlights for 2022, and the pluses and minuses experienced in 2021 were pretty much the same in 2022: difficulties resulting from choosing such a small number, but the advantage of having to focus strongly on what defines for me an outstanding work. Below are my…
Dance diary. February 2019
…es of dance and whose achievements create our dance history. Here is a link to the list of oral histories I have conducted for various organisations, now stretching back over more than three decades. Press for February 2019 Critics’ survey 2018. Dance Australia, February–March 2019, pp. 38–40. Online link ‘A powerful yet wordless narrative inspired by dreams.’ Review of Christopher Samuel Carroll’s Icarus. The Canberra Times, 28 February 2019. Onl…
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Royal New Zealand Ballet—another look
…made an inspired full-length score by extending Mendelssohn’s original incidental music with seamlessly interpolated excerpts from others of his compositions. Gaynor conducted the NZ Symphony Orchestra and the result was a transport of delight. Tracy Grant Lord produced fabulous designs for a number of major RNZB productions—for Christopher Hampsons’s Cinderella and Romeo & Juliet, as well as this Midsummer Night’s Dream. Lighting design by Kendal…
Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal
…l as one of the performers who really stood out for me. That post received comments from two readers commenting on Jade and her qualities as a performer. Well, last week I had the opportunity to speak to Jade for a preview story for The Canberra Times. Opal Vapour opens in Canberra shortly and I was interested especially in talking to Jade about her Javanese heritage and how it feeds into Opal Vapour. Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal It struck me as we were…
Giselle. Paris Opera Ballet (2013)
…Paris Opera Ballet, who are transcendent artists, and the direction of the company that understands that the classical technique can accomplish so much when exploited to its limits and used as an expressive vocabulary. As a side issue, I admired the program cover for Giselle, reproduced below. It captures so much of the essence of Act II, the fragility of the world of the Wili and the overwhelming presence of the forces of nature and the night. An…
La Valse; Invitus, Invitam; Winter Dreams; Theme and Variations. The Royal Ballet
…rkable display of the classical technique that it is. And again the entire complement of dancers showed what an outstanding company the Royal is at the moment. I could, however, have done without Peter Farmer’s set for Theme, which to my mind suffers from a surfeit of draperies. Simplicity is all that is needed as a foil to Balanchine’s intricate weaving of bodies across the stage. But what a pleasure it was to see such beautifully trained bodies…