Christmas comes to the Coliseum with English National Ballet’s Nutcracker
Julia Conway, still only a Soloist, fully showed her potential, presenting a Sugar Plum Fairy variation with many new challenging technical steps
London & SE
A vision of a disturbing, dystopian eco-dictatorship: Daniela Marcozzi’s monstrous
What if women could be artificially inseminated with animals, plants, minerals, emotions, natural phenomena and behaviours useful to an eco-regime?
Brilliant, high-intensity theatre: Ruination by Lost Dog
Ben Duke has found a sweet spot to set his trial of Medea. The kingdom of Hades, across the River Styx but not yet in Elysium, is just right
A Christmas treat: Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty: A Gothic Romance
With some of Bourne’s best choreography in the detail of the variations, the passion of the duets and strong ensemble numbers.
Freaky Bones: Israel Galván’s La Consagración de la Primavera
Goes far deeper than the spectacular or technique for technique’s sake. One comes out feeling awed and moved
New English Ballet Theatre: Cycles of Loss and Love
It was apposite to present this programme close to Remembrance weekend when we recall the human loss suffered through the madness of war.
An inspiring evening of contemporary ballet: English National Ballet, Ek/Forsythe/Quagebeur
Perhaps only a giant of choreography such as Mats Ek could so successfully pull off a reboot of such a familiar subject as The Rite of Spring
Celebrating male dance: Men In Motion
A largely enjoyable affair, Ivan Putrov must be congratulated for pulling everything together. Here’s to another ten years.
Northern Ballet: Made in Leeds
The superb Nostalgia is yet more evidence of Quagebeur’s talent. It’s no wonder she’s in demand at home and abroad.
Navigating growing up: Jasmin Vardimon Company in ALiCE
A visual treat and the dancing really is fantastic, even if nothing is quite what it seems, and even if it left me not really any the wiser about who Alice is
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.”