Ballett Zürich with Timeframed
Three of the evening’s four pieces were variations on the pas de deux; contrasted by a modern, energy-loaded piece for 23 dancers.
Europe
Gauthier Dance in Akram Khan’s Turning of Bones
A tale of love and violence, of belonging to or being expelled, of life and death, all taking place in the liminal space between reality, dream, memory…
Bayerisches Staatsballett in Neumeier’s Illusionen – wie Schwanensee
A coming together of Swan Lake and the ill-fated King Ludwig II of Bavaria, a troubled dreamer renowned for building castles and his homosexuality
Dutch National Ballet’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
It is still a lovely ballet with a warm child centred approach, designed with flair by Van Schayk.
L’Animale by Chiara Bersani
Curiosity and awe arise while observing this being who appears to be suffering in its own stillness, struggling to get out from an invisible restriction
Ballett Zürich: Oiseaux Rebelles
In Mats Ek’s ballet, Nancy Osbaldeston… was a zesty Carmen. She insists on her freedom, seeing herself as equal with the men
La Sylphide with the Bayerisches Staatsballett
Keller not only looks like an incarnation of the sylphs in the engravings of the ballet from the Romantic era, she also fills her creature with life
TanzLuzern: HOPE
Two pieces by young choreographers, both of whom have a special relationship with the company: Mthuthuzeli November and Phoebe Jewitt.
Gauthier Dance Juniors: Dream Team
All six dancers appeared in all four pieces, performing with class, commitment and bags of energy. Best, though was the way all connected with the audience
A Symbiosis of Dance and Music: Listen! by Ceren Oran
As musicians and dancers shared the stage, the music seemed to be bound together by moving bodies, which again were bound through the music
Sao Paulo Dance Company: Goecke, Binyamini, Céspedes
In Marco Goecke’s Le Chant du Rossignol, the dancers, all terrifically sharp, precise, appear from and disappear back into a deep, abyss-like upstage blackness.