Ballet NEWS | Straight from the stage – bringing you ballet insights

English National Ballet | The Nutcracker reviewed | Debut by Venus Villa & Yonah Acosta The Nutcracker English National Ballet London Coliseum Boxing Day, 26th December 2011 Based on E. T. A. Hoffmann’s novel written in 1816, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, The Nutcracker ballet was originally conceived as an entertaining add-on to follow [...]

Dance Medicine – Head to Toe : A Dancer’s Guide to Health Dance Medicine – Head to Toe : A Dancer’s Guide to Health by Judith R Peterson MD is 184 pages including 74 illustrations by Kathleen Rowland, 14 halftones and 3 radiographic images. Peterson was the attending physician to the Pennsylvania Ballet for 10 years, [...]

T is for tutu – an alphabetic introduction into ballet Do you have a young dancer in your house ? T is for Tutu is a scrumptious, adorable book filled with beautiful, colour paintings by Wilson Ong which they will love. In a large size format, the paintings bring the letters of the ballet alphabet to life and [...]

Birmingham Royal Ballet | Autumn Glory Sadlers Wells, London Wednesday, October 19th 2011 It was a night about pointe shoes. Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Autumn Glory triple bill gives us Checkmate/Symphonic Variations and Pineapple Poll; we start with a strategy and finish with fun, and there’s a sandwich filling of pure dance and no plot.  Nowhere to [...]

Where snowflakes dance and swear – inside the Land of Ballet Yes, you read that correctly : ‘the Land of Ballet.’ Well, I have news. Professional ballet does not take place on some distant planet; ballet is an integrated part of our culture worldwide, so the title is misleading. The sleeve note says that the author “has had [...]

The Everyday Dancer by the Royal Ballet’s Deborah Bull with illustrations by Millicent Hodson   First things first. You absolutely need to read this book. Deborah Bull knows her subject and will take you on a journey that you may be unfamiliar with – as a dance student (male or female) or the parent/guardian of [...]

Ballet Chocolat National Youth Ballet Sadlers Wells London Sunday, September 11th 2011 The first thing to say is that I echo fellow NYB first timer, Wayne McGregor (resident choreographer at The Royal Ballet) who said on stage at the end of this performance that he was “blown away” by the talent, passion and dedication shown [...]

The Royal Ballet Yearbook 2011/12 reviewed See larger image Royal Ballet Yearbook 2011/12 (Paperback) By (author) Royal Ballet List Price: 15.00 GBP New From: 7.21 In Stock Used from: 8.05 In Stock There’s no doubt that this is an attractive book; it’s unusual size and striking photograph on the cover (Lauren Cuthbertson and Sergei Polunin [...]

English National Ballet Carmen | L’Arlésienne | Le Jeune Homme et la Mort 21st July 2011, London Coliseum Smokin’.  That’s how I’d describe English National Ballet’s Roland Petit triple bill this evening.  It’s a night where fast twitch muscle fibres rule. The style is new to the dancers, but you wouldn’t know it. They were on [...]

The Royal Ballet School Annual Performance at the Royal Opera House The Royal Ballet School Annual Performance 8th July 2011 The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Dedicating this performance to its founder, Dame Ninette de Valois (actually by birth, Edris Stannus), The Royal Ballet School chose her carefully choreographed game of chess to open the [...]