Tuesday, January 28

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A review of the Bolshoi Ballet in the cinema broadcast of "Giselle" by Robert Greskovic in The Wall Street Journal.

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Mr. Ratmansky has reinstated much of the pantomime that’s been eliminated over time, especially in Russian stagings. And, while it’s good to have these story-delineating gestures back in “Giselle,” his Russian-trained performers, who are not particularly familiar with this poetic sign language, often fail to make their delivery theatrically nuanced.

 

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A review of New York City Ballet by Carol Pardo for danceviewtimes.

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Opposite him, in her third leading role and second debut of the week, was Erica Pereira. Her presence was a mystery. For the ballerina role in "La Source" was made for Violette Verdy, a jeroboam of champagne bubbles popping, deeply musical and witty. Pereira was scrupulous reticent and dutiful, all the steps were accounted for, but without the elan, joie de vivre or perfume (it's a very French ballet) that makes a performance -- any performance -- stay in the memory, and without which "La Source" fell flat.

 

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A review of the Russian Ballet Icons Gala by Vikki Jane Vile for Broadway World.

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Other familiar names include Natalia Osipova and her real-life partner Jason Kittelberger, whose world premiere, One With, took a similar form to much of Osipova's solo work. Billed as a "conversation devoid of language", this is certainly true as they spring off each other with fervent physicality, but the resemblances to what we've seen before mean it fails to make an impression.

Margaret Willis' review for Bachtrack.

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Conceived by Olga Balakleets, the 15th annual Ballet Icons Gala brings together top dancers from around the world to celebrate Russian classical ballet and culture. This year, 26 dancers performed to an audience made up mainly of flamboyant Russians whose sparkling sequins and ruffles competed with the tutus and tiaras on stage. The English National Ballet Philharmonic Orchestra, under conductor Valery Ovsyanikov, played with passion and aplomb and kept the dancers happy – no mean task, when rehearsal time is so short and dancers’ demands are varied.

 

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A peek at Alexei Ratmansky's new work for New York City Ballet.

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Why did Mr. Ratmansky suddenly move onto experimental new-music terrain? “I felt like I needed a shake-up,” he said in an interview after a long rehearsal of “Voices.” “In the last couple of years, I have done ‘Harlequinade,’ ‘Bayadere,’ ‘Giselle,’ all set to those well-known, traditional scores. For this particular project, I wanted something totally different.”