Friday, September 22

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A review of the Dutch National Ballet by Ilona Landgraf in her blog, "Landgraf on Dance."

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It’s unclear whether the Dutch National Ballet’s new mixed bill “Four Temperaments” took its title from one of the pieces – George Balanchine’s “The Four Temperaments” – or alludes to the different personalities of all choreographers involved. Next to Balanchine are the company’s artistic director Ted Brandsen, doyen Hans van Manen, and the Spaniard Juanjo Arqués, a regular contributor to the repertory. Let’s disclose later, why Christopher Wheeldon’s “After the Rain” was added as an extra to the matinee.

 

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Reviews of the English National Ballet.

Bachtrack

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English National Ballet’s (ENB) first season under its new artistic director, Aaron S Watkin, is finally underway. Appointed in 2022, but not able to immediately take up his new position until August 2023, Watkin was much in evidence at Sadler’s Wells during ENB’s packed opening night of Our Voices, a triple bill of works by George Balanchine, Andrea Miller and David Dawson. Watkin was there, meeting, greeting and charming people in the foyer and auditorium, and it was hard not to think that a welcome new administration under his leadership had finally taken charge of the company. The dancers, too, were dancing with a new sense of spontaneity and expression, as if they had been liberated from a heavy burden.

The Times

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You have to hand it to Aaron Watkin, the new boss at English National Ballet. He opens his first season as director with an ambitious programme that gives Britain’s second biggest ballet company the beginnings of a new identity.

The Guardian

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Elsewhere, a fiendish technical challenge in George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations (set to Tchaikovsky). High classical style with tricksy choreography demanding precision and ease, footwork packed with beats and frills. Emma Hawes opens proceedings with decisive sweeps from pose to pose and authoritative presence.

This is a company really pushing themselves and that’s always great to see, even if ideas don’t always live up to their ambitions.

The Daily Telegraph

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With the bride now rebranded as the Chosen One, and a second Chosen One added to the mix – a kind of ghostly echo, I think, of Rite – you have to concentrate hard to stay on top of things here, and even then might often falter. But no matter: by turns ferocious, beseeching and implacable, Miller’s contemporary choreography suits the music to a tee, and the cast attack it as if with teeth and claws bared.

 

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A review of ENB by Joy Sable in The Jewish Chronicle.

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The second piece is Les Noces, Ascent to Days – a new work by Andrea Miller........

There is a lot of running on demi-pointe, dashing around the stage and throwing of bodies. Breanna Foad and Francesca Velicu, tossed around like rag dolls, deserve praise for their energy and commitment.

 

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A review of Northern Ballet and English National Ballet by Louise Levene in The Financial Times.

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Benjamin Ella’s generic but attractive Joie de Vivre is a witty, well-crafted bonne bouche set to a Sibelius violin and piano piece featuring on-off couplings in the manner of Jerome Robbins’s Dances at a Gathering. Hans Van Manen’s 1973 Beethoven ballet Adagio Hammerklavier provided the heavy filling in the programme’s sandwich, but the strongest flavours were supplied by Bonelli’s commission from New York City Ballet’s Tiler Peck. Peck’s five-star triumph at Sadler’s Wells last March showcased her gifts as dancer, programmer and choreographer and Intimate Pages was a fresh reminder.

 

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A review of the Paris Opera Ballet gala by Roslyn Sulcas for The New York Times.

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It’s anybody’s guess what Thursday’s high-paying audience made of the program, which included two new works, by Marion Motin and Xie Xin, as well as a pièce d’occasion by the company dancer Nicolas Paul, and Crystal Pite’s “The Seasons Canon.” One black-tied representative might have summed it up: “Un peu boring, non?” he said to his companion as he exited.

 

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Jodie Gates makes an abrupt exit from the Cincinnati Ballet.

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The “mutual decision” was both unexpected and unusual. It is extremely rare for an artistic director to leave a company after such a short tenure. And to leave at the beginning of a season is almost unheard of. In comparison, Gates’ predecessor, Victoria Morgan, was artistic director for 25 years. When Gates was hired, the hope was that she would be here several years – long enough to raise the company’s national stature even higher than Morgan had.

 

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A preview of the Royal Ballet's Nijinska celebration.

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All that will be fleshed out in this special one-day event mounted by The Royal Ballet in the ROH Clore studio. Moderated by the UK-based Spanish choreographer Avatâra Ayuso, who's recently created a full evening biopic ballet about Nijinska for the Santiago Ballet in Chile, the event brings together Dame Monica Mason, former Royal Ballet director who, as a dancer worked with Nijinska, and Professor Lynn Garafola, author of La Nijinska: Choreographer of the Modern.