Ballet
I feel sorry for those stupid enough to believe that ballet is racist or transphobic
Sick though one may be of the way that the poison dart of ‘woke’ is lazily flung at what is…
Leave Bizet’s Carmen alone
I’ve always felt uncomfortably ambivalent about the work of Matthew Bourne. Of course, there is no disputing its infectious exuberance…
I suspect this was a rush job: Like Water for Chocolate reviewed
How much weight of plot can dance carry? Balanchine famously insisted that there are no mothers-in-law in ballet, and masters…
The lonely genius of Bronislava Nijinska
Bronislava Nijinska was constantly undermined in her lifetime – most cruelly by her brother, says Sarah Crompton
Impressive interpretations marred by cuts: Scottish Ballet's The Scandal at Mayerling reviewed
Sneer all you like at its prolixities and vulgarities but Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling remains a ballet that packs an exceptionally…
Why is dance so butch these days?
For an art form that once boldly set out to question conventional divisions of gender, ballet now seems to be…
The Nutcracker wasn’t always considered quite such a box of delights
The enduring appeal of The Nutcracker. The ballet wasn’t always considered quite such a box of delights
The genius of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker score
The enduring appeal of The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky’s ravishing score is nothing less than the sound of Christmas
Richly layered and intricate: Royal Ballet's The Dante Project reviewed
Where does the artist end and their work begin? Like 2015’s Woolf Works, Wayne McGregor’s new ballet swirls creator and…
Skirt-swishing and stomach-dropping: Ukrainian Ballet Gala, at Sadler's Wells, reviewed
Like musical supergroups and Olympic basketball teams, ballet galas tend to prize individual gifts over group cohesion. A recent one…
Swaggerific display of pumping chests and crotch-grabbing struts: NYDC's Speak Volumes reviewed
Last week I attended a dance performance in person for the first time since March last year. If you’d asked…
At last some genuine gala material: Royal Ballet's Balanchine and Robbins reviewed
The OED defines ‘gala’ as ‘a festive occasion’. In the ballet world this usually translates as a handful of stars,…
Zippy and stylish, with a glint of mischief: William Forsythe’s The Barre Project reviewed
In the early Noughties there was a Hollywood subgenre (by which I mean a few cult movies, each with terrible…
I miss the faint hiss of a spinning foot: Royal Ballet – Live reviewed
Ballet lovers driven square-eyed by a drip feed of livestreaming and archive footage have been pining for the patter of…
The real problem with the Fatima advert
An advertisement from GCHQ provoked angry comment because it seemed to suggest that some ballet dancers would be better working…
Sensual and silky: the Royal Ballet returns to Covent Garden
Wayne McGregor’s Morgen! and Frederick Ashton’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits are the first pieces of live dance — streamed…
The genius of Martha Graham
If eight weeks in lockdown have brought out my baser impulses (biscuits by the sleeve, total renunciation of waistbands), it’s…
No one understood the ennui of lockdown better than Louis XIV and his courtiers
A few years ago I interviewed an eminent baroque conductor. Prickly and professorial, tired after a day of rehearsals, he…
Rambert's latest uses the migrant crisis for superficial intrigue: Aisha and Abhaya reviewed
The January dance stage can be a site of naked contrition. Like a tippler grasping at green juice after a…
Chilling: Arthur Pita’s The Little Match Girl at Sadler’s Wells reviewed
Did your feet twitch? That’s the test of The Red Shoes. Did your toes point? Your ankles flex? Your arches…
How to make a Christmas ballet hit: behind the scenes at Scottish Ballet’s Snow Queen
Ballet, like bread sauce and green chartreuse, is often just a Christmas thing and the UK’s national companies plan their…
From cartoons to stage design: the genius of Osbert Lancaster
‘Bigger,’ said Sir Osbert Lancaster when asked the difference between his work for the page and for the stage. ‘Definitely…
Unsettlingly faithful to the spirit of Schiele: Staging Schiele reviewed
‘Come up and see my Schieles.’ Those were the words that ended a friend’s fledgling relationship with an art collector.…
A last dose of vitamin D before the clocks go back: Royal Ballet’s triple bill reviewed
Were those gerberas in Francesca Hayward’s bouquet on opening night? Gentlemen admirers take note: no woman, ballerina or otherwise, has…
Daffy charm and diabolo tricks: Bolshoi’s The Bright Stream reviewed
The Bright Stream is a ballet about a collective farm. Forget everything you know about collectivism — the failed harvests,…
