Thursday, December 2

[dirac]

A review of Australian Ballet's "Celebration Gala" by Valerie Lawson for DanceTabs.

Quote

The gala moved on to Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s mesmerising pas de deux in Concerto. With her exquisite technique on display Robyn Hendricks was well supported by Callum Linnane as she moved like a dancer warming up with Linnane as her (virtual) barre.

The first contemporary work was Clay, an excerpt from Logos, a ballet about armouring ourselves from predators, pressures and at times, ourselves. Co-commissioned by Alice Topp and Wayne McGregor, the pas deux was danced by Nathan Brook and Karen Nanasca.

 

[dirac]

Reviews of Polunin Ink's "Romeo and Juliet."

The Times

Quote

The dancer-turned-choreographer Johan Kobborg’s one-act take on Shakespeare’s teenage tragedy premiered outdoors at the Arena di Verona in August 2019 for one performance only, headlined by ballet’s “bad boy” Sergei Polunin (whose independent company Polunin Ink produced it) and star ballerina Alina Cojocaru (who happens to be Kobborg’s offstage partner). All three artists have a shared history at the Royal Ballet. This week their 90-minute production emerged from Covid limbo in London, again for a single night and in only its second performance. While Kobborg deserves credit for trying some intriguingly novel ideas, his boldly ambitious abridgement of the overfamiliar scenario is all over the place — awkwardly would-be cinematic here, overblown there, and ultimately lacking convincing dramatic texture.

The Guardian

Quote

Cojocaru brings the usual effortlessness to her dancing. She’s an innocent Juliet, trying to fathom the anxiety and excitement of her unfamiliar feelings. Cojocaru has to do twice the work, since Polunin’s never been the most subtle or complex of actors, the character separated from the dancer, but it’s enjoyable to watch him in a fierce sword fight with Tybalt (Nikolas Gaifullin). After dispatching his rival, he mercilessly tosses his sword on the corpse, only to turn round and see Juliet, and it suddenly hits him what he’s done; this is a show with some strong moments, but it’s not a ballet for the ages.

 

[dirac]

Ronn Guidi dies at age 85.

Quote

Guidi went on to become a fourth grade teacher in Oakland public schools himself, and in 1965 he founded Oakland Ballet Company. A few years later he opened his own studio to feed dancers and product to his company. The fortunes of the innovative troupe, dedicated to the works of legendary Parisian company Ballets Russes, waxed and waned for more than than 40 years before Guidi finally retired from his company in 2009.