Acosta Danza is a Cuban- based dance company founded by Carlos Acosta, the great Cuban ballet dancer and choreographer. He is the Artistic Director of Evolution and also makes a guest appearance as dancer in the final work. Evolution is a terrific show. The first piece of the evening is Satori. Choreographed by Raul Reinoso it’s mysterious and surreal in a display of sumptuous vibrancy, intriguing in its confusion of gender certainty. It’s here we first meet the extraordinary dancer, … [Read more...]
Another Look at Memory at The Coronet Theatre | Review
The Coronet Theatre is a charming Grade II listed venue, with a candle lit and uniquely furnished and beautiful bar it’s a perfect refuge on a winter’s evening in Notting Hill. Philip Glass’s magnificent work for organ and choral voice, Another look at harmony, accompanies the dance piece, Another Look at Memory presented by Institut francais and performed on The Coronet’s stage primarily by three dancers then four. The work travels through ten years of choreography by Thomas Le Brun. The … [Read more...]
Natalia Osipova – Pure Dance at Sadler’s Wells | Review
Natalia Osipova is the artistic director of this show and a principal dancer at The Royal Ballet, London. Pure Dance is a fine programme of seven short pieces varying in tone and form from contemporary dance to classical ballet. Osipova dances in six of the works and the seventh, a solo performed by David Hallberg, a principal guest artist at The Royal Ballet, is atmospheric and performed with provoking sensitivity. The choreography throughout the show is consistently excellent and the music … [Read more...]
Russell Maliphant Company’s Silent Lines | Review
Silent Lines is a new work choreographed by Russell Maliphant and performed by his dance company. It’s an abstract work relying on movement, music and clever light effects to absorb the audience which it successfully does. Much more so than his other recent work, The Golden Thread. Running at an hour Silent Lines opens with five dancers performing as indistinct figures bound together moving between dappled light and shade as if underwater through sunshine and shadow. The costumes by Stevie … [Read more...]
Ballet Preljocaj La Fresque at Sadler’s Wells | Review
Premiered in Aix-en-Provence three years ago this work choreographed by the French choreographer, Angelin Preljocaj is presented as a beautiful dream, pleasing to watch. The title, La Fresque, refers to a fresco. This is a watercolour picture painted rapidly onto wet plaster on a wall or ceiling so the colour permeates the plaster as it dries with the painting becoming an integral part of the building. The narrative to this dance work is flimsy based on folklore that is Chinese in origin … [Read more...]