Ballet de Bordeaux review

[Alexandra]

Scottish Ballet has a novel idea -- they're posting long reviews by their dancers of programs they've seen.

Here's one to a review by Glauco de Lietto of Bordeaux Opera Ballet at Edinburgh.

Bordeaux Opera Ballet’s programme Picasso and Dance at the Edinburgh Playhouse offers a precious opportunity. It traces key moments in the history of the Spanish artist’s involvement with ballet, from his first two collaborations with Diaghilev’s Les Ballets Russes to a much later one with the Paris Opéra, providing a unique insight into the evolution of a little known, but nonetheless essential part of his work. At the same time, it opens a window into a time when dance was enjoying the same popularity, at least in certain parts of Europe, as any other art form, enabling choreographers to establish fertile relationships with all the greatest composers and designers. Those were the delicate years, between the two Wars, when ‘creating’ meant searching for new ways of expressing the fundamental changes that society was going through, or often simply challenging traditions and provoking a reaction in the audience, be it enthusiasm or outrage.

[Estelle]

Thanks for posting a link to this review, Alexandra!

It is indeed a good idea from the Scottish Ballet to post such reviews on its web site. I saw a similar program by the Ballet de Bordeaux in Paris in June at the Théâtre du Châtelet, except that there was some flamenco choreographed by Cristina Hoyos instead of "The Prodigal Son" (and the casts were a bit different, with Igor Yebra and Emmanuelle Grizot in "Le Tricorne" and Charles Jude in "Icare")- actually I'm feeling a bit jealous as I'd have liked to see Jude in "The Prodigal Son", it was said to be one of his best roles when he was dancing with the POB.

[Alexandra]

Yes, it sounds like an interesting company. As for the Scottish Ballet reviews, I hope this will start a trend! It's a great outlet for dancer-writers, and for readers, it's fascinating (to me, at least) to read dancers on dancing. There are also reviews of Cullberg Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet's Wheeldon program, and, whether you agree with them or not, they're very well done. It's very rare that one gets to read young dancers on what they're dancing, or might want to dance -- or not!