Wednesday, June 5

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A review of the Sarasota Ballet by Teresa  Guerreiro for CultureWhisper.

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It fell to the Floridian Sarasota Ballet, under the direction of the former Royal Ballet dancer Iain Webb, to fill in the gaps: having recovered many of Ashton’s semi-forgotten works, Webb’s Sarasota Ballet now has more Ashton in its repertoire than any other company; and in its first ever visit to the UK the company is showing us what we’ve been missing. The visit is part of a massive festival, Ashton Worldwide 2024-2028.

Alastair Macaulay reviews the company for Slipped Disc.

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Let me not overpraise the Sarasota achievement. A few of its dancers use excessive facial expressions (one man in “Valses nobles” tried to signal Poignant Motivation over a minor change of female partner). Many of its women employ visibly darned blocks to their point shoes (the effect is one of both truncation and fraying). But these three ballets are pulsatingly immediate.

A review of Sarasota Ballet by Deborah Weiss for Bachtrack.

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Dante Sonata was created in 1940 when Ashton, affected by the onset of World War II, took inspiration from a poem by Victor Hugo and Dante’s Inferno. The forces of good and evil are represented by the Children of Light and the Children of Darkness. Set to a score by Franz Liszt, arranged by Constant Lambert, the ballet was not entirely what we have come to expect from Ashton. It was dramatic, dark and without resolution. Pratt and Jennifer Hackbarth fought for good and love, but were continuously thwarted by Lauren Ostrander and Ricardo Graziano and their dark companions. It felt like an extraordinary history lesson and put the focus firmly on Ashton’s foresight and his courageous, visionary thinking.

 

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Debra Craine reviews the company in The Times.

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On a stage drenched in red and pink, with screens as a backdrop (the original Sophie Fedorovitch designs), the ten dancers engage in a series of ballroom flirtations — swooning, decorous women, virile princely men — etched in elegant choreography. At first the dancers looked a little nervous — this is the company’s first trip abroad — but they soon evened out the rough edges on opening night.

 

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An obituary for Vladimir Shoumeikin, who has died at age 99.

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Soon after emigrating to the U.S. in 1991, Shoumeikin established International Ballet Theatre, a classical ballet company based in Philadelphia. The company quickly became well-known in the tri-state area thanks to its lavish production of The Nutcracker that enchanted PA, NJ, and DE audiences and casted local ballet students ages 6 to15.

 

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A preview of Houston Ballet's "The Four Seasons."

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When former Principal dancer Amy Fote was approached by Houston Ballet's Artistic Director Stanton Welch to get out on stage again and dance the part of the Widow in "Winter" she says she had to think about it for a while.

 

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Interviews with dancers who have performed in "The Dream" by Alexander Simpkins for Bachtrack.

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Sibley brilliantly conveys Ashton’s ideas of sensuality and still today, her shoulders seem to purr. As conversation leads to other created roles, Sibley demonstrates a moment when Manon, heroine of Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s ballet, is tempted by a fur coat: she places her arm through the imaginary sleeve – again there is so much rich involvement of her shoulders, felt intensely through the whole upper body, complemented by filigree flourishes of the wrist. Such insights reveal the tapestry of The Royal Ballet and its creative forces. Both ballets are linked through Sibley’s celebrated on-stage partnership with Sir Anthony Dowell of which The Dream was the birth.