Somehow I have to get Vlad the Lad to Amsterdam Next April
If this video is anything to go by, the Dutch National Ballet's Little Big Chest is a delightful ballet. Vlad the Lad would love it. Choreographed by Ernst Meinser this work is created for young...
View ArticleA Good Old Fashioned Swan Lake without Gimmicks
Standard YouTube LicenceSwan Lake is special to me and it has become even more special since I tried to learn the cygnets' dance, Siegfried's solo and the swans' entry at KNT's Swan Lake intensive last...
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Northern Ballet's Jane Eyre: the best new Ballet from the Company in 20 Years
Jane Eyre and her Aunt ReedAuthor FH TownsendSourceWikipediaNorthern Ballet, Jane Eyre, Richmond Theatre. 1 June 2016With one enormous break between 2004 and 2011 I have been following Northern Ballet...
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Richmond
The Thames at RichmondAuthor Diliff Source WikipediaCreative Commons LicenceI arrived home in the early hours of this morning after a diversion via Leeds because I missed my connection from Wakefield...
View ArticleEmpire Blanche: Dawson's Swan Lake
Standard You Tube Licence Scottish Ballet, Swan Lake, Liverpool Empire, 3 June 2016On my train back from Liverpool a young man asked to borrow my programme. He explained that he had attended Scottish...
View ArticleThe Dutch National Ballet's New Season
Standard YouTube LicenceIn Double Dutch Delights 17 Feb 2016 I mentioned the preview of the new opera and ballet season in Amsterdam which I attended as a Friend of the Dutch National Ballet. Tickets...
View ArticlePalagio
Standard YouTube LicenceOne of my favourite young dancers in any company is Cristiano Principato, an Élève with the Dutch National Ballet. I interviewed him shortly after he joined the Junior Company...
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Meet Danielle Gould of the Hungarian National Ballet
Danielle Gould(c) 2016 Danielle Gould: all rights reservedEvery so often a dancer stands out from his or her peers and commands attention. That happened at Budapest Opera House on Sunday, 17 April 2016...
View ArticlePinocchio
Standard YouTube LicenceBallet Theatre UK, Pinocchio, Rotherham Civic Theatre, 4 June 2016With perfect timing Ballet Theatre UK performed Pinocchio at the Rotherham Civic Theatre on the very afternoon...
View ArticleMaybe we do have a Junior Company in England after all
I have written quite a lot about the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company and why I think it is a good idea. In Ernst Meisner’s Work with the Dutch National Ballet 2 Dec 2014, Ernst Meisner, Artistic...
View ArticleShowcase and Move It at the Dancehouse
Standard YouTube LicenceThe Dancehouse theatre at 10 Oxford Road in Manchester is the sister company of Northern Ballet School which is an international centre of excellence in training for classical...
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Another Chance to hear the Voice of Dame Ninette de Valis
Source WikipediaDame Ninette de Valois was born on 6 June 1898 and died on 8 March 2001. Even now she is referred to as "Madam" by dancers of the Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet who could...
View ArticleScottish Ballet's Next Performances
Standard YouTube LicenceAfter the treat of seeing the first ballet company that I got to know and love in my own region if not exactly my own back yard (see Empire Blanche: Dawson's Swan Lake 4 June...
View ArticleDawson's Overture
Standard YouTube LicenceA week after his Swan Lake for Scottish Ballet finished its run in Scotland and the North of England David Dawson's Overture opens in Amsterdam. It is part of a mixed programme...
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Dance in the Gulf
Along with lots of interesting news of its participation in the Patron's Lunch, a parade of its dancers and teachers in London, a pop up event in Birmingham and other activities in Leeds and Ormskirk...
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Expressions 2016
Leeds by NightAuthor MelfireSource WikipediaCreative Commons LicenceOne of my best nights out in Leeds last year was Expressions at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds which I reviewed on 16...
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Hertfordshire Dance Summer School
Bluebells in HertfordshireAuthor CameramanSource WikipediaCreative Commons Licence.Last year I mentioned the Harpenden Dance Summer School in There's more to Harpenden than Thameslink 17 May 2015....
View ArticleThe Dubai Opera House
Standard YouTube LicenceIn Dance in the Gulf 10 June 2016 I noted that "a lot of money is going into the arts as states in the Gulf seek to diversify their economies and that has resulted in the...
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Another Great Teacher
One of my very first and most popular posts was about the Kenyan dance teacher, Mike Wamaya, who gave ballet classes to kids from one of the roughest neighbourhoods of Nairobi and raised their...
View ArticleSwan Lake in the Round
Standard YouTube LicenceEnglish National Ballet, Swan Lake, Royal Albert Hall, 12 June 2016Watching ballet in the Royal Albert Hall is quite a different experience from watching it on a proscenium...
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