Ballet Nights at Cadogan Hall
A mixed bill brought, inevitably perhaps, mixed success but without a shadow of a doubt, it was worth it for Set Fast alone.
Charlotte Kasner
State Ballet of Georgia: Swan Lake
A pleasing, traditional Swan Lake, but one that lacks characterisation and struggles for ‘wow’ factor.
Kenneth MacMillan and Robert Cohan spotlighted in a new film: Dance Revolutionaries
Both specially filmed on location, Cohan’s Portraits is a series of five solos, while MacMillan’s Sea of Troubles is his shot at Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Vicente Amigo: Memoria de los Sentidos
Memoria de los Sentidos spurns the usual flamenco hierarchy to put the guitar at the forefront with a nod to cante and baille towards the end
Rocío Molina: Al Fondo Riela
It ends with more fabulous guitar playing as Molina appears, dressed bizarrely as some kind of black and red insect. Have we strayed into Kafka?
Juggling meets Pina Bausch in Gandini Juggling’s Smashed
The company are not content with being superb jugglers. There’s a lot of movement skills and comedic flair too
Paco Peña: Solera
What a long way we have come since the first flamenco festival in 2003. A very pleasing prelude to this year’s festival in a couple of months.
English National Ballet in Johan Inger’s Carmen
There is definitely a sense that we are observing a community living on the edges of society and, for all Inger’s protestations…, it is clearly gitano
Dance and theatre gold: Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young’s Assembly Hall
A dance production that truly speaks to the ills of contemporary society and that is not afraid to make us laugh along the way.
A night of the best in ballet: Ballet Icons Gala
New and unfamiliar works rub shoulders with old favourites, with Sergio Bernal’s The Thinker the unexpected highlight of a super evening
New York City Ballet’s London return
While the company has always projected a sense of excitement and even danger… alas, little was evident in this quadruple bill.