Two debuts, two promotions and Cranko’s fine Swan Lake with Stuttgart Ballet
“Freely adapted from traditional versions.” Fine performances from Gabriel Figueredo and Mizuki Amemiya, both promoted at the end of the evening
Europe
Florence Dance Festival 2024
An extraordinarily wide-ranging programme of work… in the highly atmospheric Grand Cloister of the Santa Maria Novella.
Staatstheater Nürnberg Ballett: Maillot/León-Lightfoot
Les Noces and Stop-Motion may only contain around an hour’s dance, but it proved an evening laden with emotion and intensity.
Emotions in full flow: Henrik Erikson and Mackenzie Brown in Stuttgart Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet
Mackenzie Brown and Henrik Erikson delivered in spades. Brown’s Juliet seemed to surf the waves of emotion that were flooding through her body
Classicism to the fore at the John Cranko School Matinée
Top quality dancing… But perhaps best of all, everything was very classically rooted, with pointework very much to the fore for the women.
Think Big: A dance festival for young audiences in Munich
In theatres, performance spaces, public squares and schools, with everything geared towards a young audience
An evening of many colours: Badisches Staatsballett’s International Benefit Gala
Invariably a wonderful evening’s dance… this year’s gala was also a farewell, and a thank you, to outgoing artistic director Bridget Breiner
Nationaltheater Mannheim Dance Ensemble: Kosmos – SCHWERE los
Perhaps it’s best not to overthink it and rather just sit back and enjoy the fine dancing and the many nuances in the work’s sometimes strange imagery
Stuttgart Ballet: Novitzky/Dawson
It may be abstract in the sense of being non-narrative… but Dawson’s choreography and the company’s dancing reached inside and touched the soul
Staatsballett Berlin celebrates 20 years with a sparkling gala
The varied programme of mostly excerpts from longer pieces delighted the enthusiastic audience on a summery Sunday evening
Staatsballett Berlin: Giselle
This performance of Patrice Bart’s Giselle was special in that it saw Ksenia Ovsyanick dance the lead role for the last time