Stuttgart Ballet’s new family-friendly Nutcracker
By Edward Clug, with sets and costumes by the acclaimed Jürgen Rose. And it’s the 85-year-old Rose’s designs that stick most in the memory
Europe
Badisches Staatsballett: Ruß – Eine Geschichte von Aschenputtel (Soot – A Retelling of Cinderella)
Bridget Briner’s complex, impressive version that relocates the story and tells it from the perspective of Livia, one of Cinderella’s stepsisters
Clean, sleek, stylish: Badisches Staatsballett in David Dawson’s Giselle
Modern yes, but still a ballet driven by emotions and imperfect people…and that in Act II especially, touches in all the right places
Delving into the recesses of Prospero’s mind: Dance Theater Heidelberg in Island
Outstandingly performed, sadness and melancholy pervades in Pérez’s intense, magnetic work that puts a new face on Shakespeare’s drama.
A Nutcracker with a difference. Christian Spuck’s Nussknacker und Mausekönig for Ballett Zürich
Complex and a real puzzle, for a while, Spuck’s ballet is very disorienting although it does become increasingly clear as the familiar starts to emerge
Real and of today: Pontus Lidberg’s Giselle
The setting may be updated but this is very much a Giselle still full of powerful feelings that reach out and touch
Thrilling theatre: Norwegian National Ballet in The Hamlet Complex Redux
Simply too much to absorb in one viewing, but the brilliant stage pictures and the fine performances make for total immersion in thrilling theatre
Robbins/Balanchine from the Royal Swedish Ballet
Two of Jerome Robbins’ most popular ballets and one of Balanchine’s most enjoyable. What’s not to like?
In sync with the underground world of today’s Berlin: Zoe Gyssler’s Firestarter
Surreal queerness, limitless imagination, kinky fantasies, mystical visions, loud, monotonous techno, kitschy excesses…and a pinch of occultism
Two cities, three Mayerlings
Mayerling in London and Paris. “Muntagirov is a rare Rudolph, one whose decline is as agonizingly real as it is exquisitely danced.”
Colour and energy: The Royal Swedish Ballet in Don Quixote
A feast of dance, music and colourful costumes with the added bonus of Madeleine Woo and Dmitry Zagrebin in the roles of Kitri and Basilio