Category Archives: Ballet

Kapitonova enchants in Ratmansky’s Zurich Swan Lake

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake **** Zurich Ballet, 3rd June 2018 Zurich’s charming opera house lies within a stone’s throw of the lake. During intervals on balmy summer evenings such as this, audience members wander lakeside, where swans glide serenely. It’s the … Continue reading

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A keeper: Scarlett delivers a triumphant new Swan Lake for The Royal Ballet

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake ***** Royal Ballet, 17th May 2018 Faced with one of the most daunting tasks in ballet – choreographing a new production of Swan Lake – Liam Scarlett has nailed it. Huge pressure rests on the shoulders of anyone restaging a core … Continue reading

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A ballet for all seasons: Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale

Talbot: The Winter’s Tale **** Royal Ballet, 13th February 2018 The Winter’s Tale is sometimes classed as one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays” with its odd juxtaposition of psychological drama and comedy followed by an abruptly contrived happy ending. Ryan Wigglesworth’s operatic version, … Continue reading

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All that glitters: an opulent Sleeping Beauty returns to Birmingham Royal Ballet

Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty *** Birmingham Royal Ballet, Mayflower Theatre, 31st January 2018 Fairy tale ballets don’t come with a higher classical pedigree than The Sleeping Beauty. Premiered in St Petersburg in 1890, it is the epitome of Imperial style and … Continue reading

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There’s still plenty of life in Bintley’s Penguin Café

Birmingham Royal Ballet **** Sadler’s Wells, 3rd November 2017 It starts like a scene from Mary Poppins, with penguin waiters nimbly weaving between waltzing couples, but ends with a deft blow to the stomach to deliver its environmental message. David Bintley’s ‘Still Life’ … Continue reading

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