DANCE is my great passion but this year there wasn’t a huge amount to bowl me over.Certainly I saw plenty of fine dancing – when does one not? – but in classical ballet there were few new works of substance. Well, none actually. There were pleasing new versions of existing ballets, although they didn’t quite…
Category: Dance
Introductory remarks to 2014 in the rear-view mirror
EARLY next week I’ll be at the Vanguard in Sydney’s Newtown to see Jacqui Dark and Kanen Breen’s cabaret show Under the Covers. That will bring my 2014 show total to 207, including a strong final burst of seven outings in my last viewing week of the year. It’s a relatively modest number by previous…
‘A time of renewal’
Maina Gielgud, artistic director of The Australian Ballet from 1983 to 1997, is in Sydney preparing to restage her acclaimed 1986 production of Giselle, last performed by the company in 2008. It will premiere in Melbourne on March 13, 2015, with seasons to follow in Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide. In a frank and lively conversation…
Women to the fore
New Breed, Sydney Dance Company, Carriageworks, Sydney, November 4 AN enduring issue in dance is the predominance of male choreographers. This is overwhelmingly evident in ballet; less so in contemporary dance. Nevertheless, if you look at Sydney Dance Company’s programs over the past few years, the choreographers invited to join artistic director Rafael Bonachela on…
Old wine in new bottles
The Grand Chapiteau, Entertainment Quarter, Sydney, October 28. THE theme of Cirque du Soleil’s Totem is nothing less than the progress of the human race. The show begins with the thrilling sight of a man descending from the highest reaches of the vast Cirque tent, his mirror-encrusted bodysuit catching the light as he swirls in…
It’s a wrap
Trisha Brown Dance Company. From All Angles: Pure Movement Program 1, October 23; Early Works, October 26 (afternoon); Pure Movement Program 2, October 26 (evening) Chunky Move, Complexity of Belonging, October 9 Heiner Goebbels, When the Mountain Changed Its Clothing, October 26 (afternoon) The Trouble with Harry, October 23 (afternoon) TRISHA Brown’s dance-making is deeply concerned…
Zest and immediacy
Originally posted on deborah jones: FollowSpot:
Bell Shakespeare, Canberra Theatre Centre, June 15. IN an air raid shelter during the Blitz in London, some young people delve into bookshelves and pull out Shakespeare. Their stage is a room with a blackboard and some rackety shelves, their costumes nothing more than what they can put over…
Finding a place to belong
Regent Theatre, Melbourne, October 17 MATTHEW Bourne’s Swan Lake was a sensation when it premiered in 1995 and nearly 20 years later it is as gripping as ever. Swan Lake is surely the ballet text most frequently reinterpreted, whether tweaked minimally or extensively altered, but no version has captured the public’s imagination as tenaciously as…
Let’s get physical
Louder Than Words, Sydney Dance Company. Sydney Theatre, October 8. IT’S hard to know where to begin with Andonis Foniadakis’s fantastical Parenthesis, a piece that turns the dial up to 11 and then some. Perhaps praise for Sydney Dance Company’s ferociously committed dancers should come first. They are a super-talented and game bunch who can…
David McAllister in conversation
THE Australian Ballet has designated 2015 its Year of Beauty, driving the point home with sumptuous imagery. Not since 2009 has the AB’s promotional material had such a romantic feel. The program, announced on September 16, culminates in a new production of Sleeping Beauty, to be staged by AB artistic director David McAllister, and begins…
