Evolution: Acosta Danza, Sadler’s Wells, 21 November 2019 (evening performance) – Maggie Watson reviews

Acosta Danza presented four works to a large and enthusiastic audience at Sadler’s Wells last night. The evening opened with Raúl Reinoso’s Satori, a piece that brought together movement, music, costumes and lighting with strong dramatic effect, unifying them in the dance. The visual impact was powerful right from the start, as spotlights picked out dancers, male and female, surrounded by huge circular skirts that spread around them on the stage. Billowing cloth created the illusion of a mountainous landscape viewed from above, as a dancer bourréed on pointe from side to side, facing the audience, her arms extended, like a hovering bird.

 

Darcey Bussell interviewed by Nick Higham, Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford Literary Festival 30th March 2019 – Maggie Watson reports

Nick Higham’s interview with Darcey Bussell in the Sheldonian Theatre was the only dance-related event in this year’s Oxford Literary Festival, and it was sold out. I was sitting right at the top, next to a family with two small girls, who were very anxious about whether they would be able to see. Happily, we turned out to be on the best side of the Gallery, and had a good view of Bussell, who seemed to be channelling her inner Audrey Hepburn, in slacks, pumps and a polka-dot blouse.

Higham opened the discussion by talking about her book Darcey Bussell: Evolved, which is a collection of images of Bussell in locations ranging from the top of the Albert Memorial to the London Eye. Higham asked what it is like to be a photographer’s muse, to which Bussell replied that it is part of the job of promoting her art form.

 

Don Quixote, The Royal Ballet, live cinema relay 19th February – Susanna Reece reviews

Carlos Acosta’s recent production of Don Quixote for the Royal Ballet is full of energy, sparkle and exhilarating dancing. Even though it is from the classic Marius Petipa tradition, I didn’t know this ballet and wasn’t sure what to expect. How do you ‘balletise’ Cervantes’ 17th Century blockbuster? In some ways it is a bit like Le Corsaire with flamenco and gypsies instead of pirates: the thinnest of plots, but huge fun and an excuse for some great dancing.

 

Flesh and Screen: Royal Ballet quadruple bill, Sasha Waltz and Guests – Susie Crow reviews

An interesting mix of performances in the flesh and on the screen last week with two cinema visits for 20^th century classics and new works transmitted by the Bolshoi and the Royal Ballet framing live performance of German contemporary dance from Sasha Waltz and Guests at Sadler’s Wells. If I dislike the cinema transmissions’ overhyped introductory promos and some excessively effusive commentary, I do enjoy seeing the interiors of other theatres, and some of the informative interview and documentary material provided. Close-ups highlight intriguing details of the dance, although sometimes at a price of losing their relationship with the wider stage environment; differing camera angles risk obscuring spatial design and choreographic architecture.

The Royal Ballet’s first transmission of a mixed bill marked the final farewell of much loved Carlos Acosta from the Covent Garden main stage starring as Don Jose in his own new version of Carmen.

 

Royal Ballet quadruple bill with works by Acosta, Balanchine, Robbins & Scarlett live transmission Phoenix Picturehouse 12th November

Enjoy four short ballets in one evening with this quadruple programme from The Royal Ballet, in a live Screen Arts transmission showing at the Phoenix Picturehouse.  Carlos Acosta focuses on the dramatic essentials of love, jealousy and revenge in his new production of Carmen. As well as choreographing the production, Acosta will dance the lead role.  Liam Scarlett has used Lowell Liebermann’s thrilling Piano Concerto No.1 as the inspiration for his similarly audacious choreography in Viscera.  Debussy’s evocative score is the inspiration for Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun, which depicts two ballet dancers as absorbed by their own reflections as they are attracted to each other.  George Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky pas de deux uses a fragment of music composed for the 1877 production of Swan Lake for a display of ballet bravura and technique.

Date:  Thursday 12th November 2015, 7.15pm

Venue:  Phoenix Picturehouse, 57 Walton St, Oxford OX2 6AE

Book tickets online here or phone 0871 902 5736

 

Being a Dancer: Advice from Dancers and Choreographers, by Lyndsey Winship – Maggie Watson reviews

Lyndsey Winship’s very enjoyable book Being a Dancer distils the advice of 25 professional dancers and choreographers on subjects ranging from training and getting a job, through performing and choreographing, to living a life in dance. The book contains plenty of good, pithy, practical guidance, such as ‘Tips on Partnering’ and ‘Nailing an Audition’ and will be relevant to students whether they seek careers in ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, commercial theatre or the dance of non-Western cultures. If there is one clear message that runs through the book like a thread, it is that however talented a student is, hard work and perseverance are essential.

 

Royal Ballet: Rhapsody and Gloria, Saturday 8 February 2014, evening performance at the Royal Opera House

When Kevin O’Hare stepped in front of the curtain, I expected bad news, and it was:  Natalia Osipova had mild concussion following “a collision of heads” during the afternoon performance;  Thiago Soares was off too, and  so was Tetractys – the art of fugue.  Cue for groans from the audience, followed by a round of applause from some of the more expensive seats when we were promised a refund of a third of the ticket price, and told that the bars would stay open for longer than usual.  And so the triple bill became a double bill, of Rhapsody and Gloria.  Nevertheless, this was an opportunity for the Royal Ballet to showcase the work of two of the company’s most important directors and to demonstrate an understanding of two very different, yet very English, choreographic styles.

 

Natalia Osipova in The Royal Ballet’s Giselle, streamed live to Phoenix Picturehouse Oxford, Monday 27 January 2014

Natalia Osipova’s Giselle flings us into the maelstrom of emotion that she resolves with an aura of serene compassion and unearthly forgiveness in the second act.  Her Giselle is an utterly engaging and very human young woman;  shy but passionate, fun-loving but vulnerable, and she sweeps us along with a conviction that sometimes even makes us forget that she is dancing.

 

Royal Ballet in Giselle live transmission at Phoenix Picturehouse Monday 27th January

A chance to see The Royal Ballet in one of the most popular Romantic ballets of all time.  The story of Giselle brings together an engaging mix of human passions, supernatural forces and the transcendent power of self-sacrificing love.  The production by Sir Peter Wright catches the atmosphere of this great Romantic ballet, especially in the perfection of its second Act, with ghostly maidens drifting through the forest in spectacular patterns – one of the most famous of any scenes for the corps de ballet. Giselle dances with lightness and fragility, giving the impression of floating through the mist.  This is one of the Royal Ballet’s most loved and admired productions, faithful to the spirit of the 1841 original, yet always fresh at each revival.  This live transmission from the Royal Opera House at the Phoenix Picturehouse on Monday 27th January features the company’s new star dancer Natalia Osipova in the title role, partnered by Carlos Acosta.

 

Royal Ballet live transmission at the Phoenix: Don Quixote Wednesday 16th October 2013

Another 19th century narrative ballet from the Russian tradition for viewing in Oxford this autumn; the Royal Ballet’s brand new production of Don Quixote will shortly be transmitted live at the Phoenix Picturehouse from the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.  The adventures of Cervantes’ bumbling knight are the inspiration for one of Marius Petipa’s best known ballets, with music by Ludwig Minkus, containing emotion, drama and vivid characters as well as vivacious and spectacular classical dance with a Spanish flavour.  Royal Ballet Principal Guest Artist Carlos Acosta has danced the virtuoso role of Basilio many times. So it is especially appropriate that he has mounted this production for the Royal Ballet, with designs by Tim Hatley giving a modern edge to a broadly traditional staging.