dance

Edinburgh Fringe 2014: MurleyDance

Hanna Weibye Thursday, 21 August 2014

MurleyDance is something of an oddity in the world of small independent dance companies, in that it proudly wears pointe shoes. Yes, this is – according to its own publicity - the only professional classical ballet company attending the Fringe, and Artistic Director David Murley is playing that uniqueness for all he’s worth, issuing a press release calling for more ballet companies to attend Edinburgh’s annual arts circus.

Gnosis, Akram Khan, King's Theatre, Edinburgh

Hanna Weibye Wednesday, 20 August 2014

In keeping with the trends of recent years, the Edinburgh International Festival is showcasing a small but eclectic dance programme, light on classical ballet and heavy on contemporary, international and fusion. After choreographer Mark Baldwin’s collaboration with Ladysmith Black Mambazo last week, the festival is now playing host to what may be the final performances of Akram Khan’s bill Gnosis, which was a huge hit when it premiered at Sadler’s Wells in 2009.

Cinderella, Mariinsky Ballet, Royal Opera House

Hanna Weibye Monday, 18 August 2014

It sure feels like longer than three weeks since the Mariinsky rolled into town – at least if you’re one of London’s ballet fans. Non-balletomanes might be wondering whether the feverish intensity with which the company’s doings are followed, its form analysed, its health diagnosed, is disproportionate, a case of collective hysteria stoked by cultural stereotypes about Russians and the absence of other ballet offerings in late summer.

Firebird/ Marguerite and Armand/ Concerto DSCH, Mariinsky Ballet, Royal Opera House

Ismene Brown Tuesday, 12 August 2014

This was the most eagerly anticipated programme of the Mariinsky visit - something old, something borrowed and something new.

Apollo/ A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mariinsky Ballet, Royal Opera House

Ismene Brown Monday, 11 August 2014

The ballerina claque wars that generally accompany visits here by the Mariinsky Ballet are raging particularly feverishly this year, but it all falls silent when Uliana Lopatkina makes one of her increasingly rare appearances. So much noise is focused on legginess or hip flexibility of these size-zero ballerinas, and yet the Mariinsky knows more than any other company in history that it is not body but mind that matters in the final analysis.

Solo for Two, Osipova/Vasiliev, London Coliseum

Hanna Weibye Thursday, 07 August 2014

Mounting a contemporary dance show together doesn’t seem like the best way to get over your ex, even if you are (or rather, were) ballet’s most fabulously marketable couple.

Swan Lake, Mariinsky Ballet, Royal Opera House

Hanna Weibye Sunday, 03 August 2014

For a dance company, the always delicate balance between preserving your heritage and creating an exciting future becomes especially hard to negotiate when you are the most venerable institution in your field. The Mariinsky Ballet, now on tour in London, have this problem magnified by a general perception (theirs and the public’s) that they are the world’s keepers of the great Russian ballet tradition, which they are expected to represent at its finest.

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Fallen/Serpent, BalletBoyz, Roundhouse

Hanna Weibye Friday, 01 August 2014

School’s out for summer, even Parliament is on recess, and the streets around my house are suddenly devoid of children, as families make for the hills (or at least the beach).

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PUSH, Guillem/Maliphant, London Coliseum

Hanna Weibye Wednesday, 30 July 2014

Last night’s performance of PUSH at the London Colisem left me exhilarated and downcast in equal measure. Exhilarated because dancer Sylvie Guillem, dancer/choreographer Russell Maliphant and lighting genius Michael Hulls together create the Holy Grail of dance, a blend of intelligence, talent and charisma so stunning and convincing that it seems to trascend description and become sacramental.

Romeo and Juliet, Mariinsky Ballet, Royal Opera House

Hanna Weibye Tuesday, 29 July 2014

One of the reasons I always tell ballet sceptics to give Romeo and Juliet a go is that any production with halfway decent lovers and a vaguely competent rendition of Prokofiev’s score should convince them that this art form isn’t just about swans and sugar plums.