Thursday, February 22

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A review of New York City Ballet by Leigh Witchel for dancelog.nyc.

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The raw emotions of Solitude, like Ashton’s Dante Sonata, worked because of their white-hot topicality. Ratmansky kept some restraint no matter how emotional, but if Gordon and the rest of the cast hadn’t performed with such commitment it could have gone off the rails. Like Ashton’s work as England was dragged into battle, Solitude may also be a work that in the future will need historical context to understand how people felt at the time.

 

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A review of the Paris Opera Ballet by Naomi Mori for Bachtrack.

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Mathieu Ganio partnered Ould-Braham as her Des Grieux, and his lyrical, delicate phrasing within his solos and their delightful pas de deux in the first act were beautifully matched with Massenet's romantic score. Although Des Grieux’s love for Manon does not waver throughout the ballet, we could see that he was one of the men who exploited her, dipping his hands in card games and cheating. He looked almost pathetic, blinded with his infatuation to Manon. His sincerity and solid support shown in the final pas de deux in the swamps was heartbreaking, with the realisation that he was one of the men to blame for the tragedy of Manon. We could feel the tenderness of their partnership at Manon’s death. Ould-Braham will be retiring in May, Ganio is supposed to retire in 2026, and this memorable performance that both étoiles gave, was a beautiful farewell gift to the Japanese audience.

 

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A review of the Australian Ballet by Katie Lawrence for Bachtrack.

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The Australian Ballet’s production of Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, is cinematic, fun, comedic, and rule-breaking. It’s the best of cross-generational storytelling: a bit like an animated children’s movie that also speaks to adults. Accessible, joyful and magical (there’s even dancing in the aisles, for the full immersive experience), but with inside jokes for the grown-ups. It’s powerful enough to both entertain and connect on a deeper, darker level.

 

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A review of the Bolshoi Ballet by Ilona Landgraf for "Landgraf on Dance."

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....The critics who argue that Pierre Lacotte’s recreation of Marius Petipa’s La Fille du Pharaon (1862) is like unearthing a dusty ballet mummy are wrong. True, the piece’s libretto (which is based on Theophile Gautier’s 1857 Le Roman de la Momie and was edited by Lacotte) is flimsy. Hearty drags on an opium pipe transport a traveling Englishman and his servant to the pyramids during the reign of a mighty pharaoh. This pharaoh has a daughter who instantly falls in love with the Englishman. After some adventurous trouble (including the dispatch of a lion, a last-minute escape, a nearly murderous assault, a suicide attempt, and the hero’s near execution), the lovers are happily united. But – alas! Upon awakening, it turns out that it had all been nothing but a dream. It’s a well-trod and thoroughly implausible plot. But who cares given the superabundance of (French style) dance that Lacotte incorporated? It was dancing of a complexity that only the Bolshoi can deliver. That’s why he recreated this ballet in 2000 just for them.....