Tag Archives: Dance

Artistic Director: Cassa Pancho Choreography: Cathy Marston, Arthur Pita Reviewer: Peter Jacobs Ballet Black is a professional ballet company for international dancers of black and Asian descent, founded in 2001 by Artistic Director, Cassa Pancho MBE, in order to provide role models (and opportunities) to young, aspiring black and Asian dancers. Additionally, the company aims to bring ballet to a ...

Music: Philip Feeney (The Suit) Director / Choreographer: Cathy Marston / Arthur Pita Reviewer: Beverley Haigh Pioneering Ballet Black return with a thrilling double bill, which contains two very diverse pieces of modern ballet. Now in their 17th year, Ballet Black was founded under Cassa Pancho’s vision to create an inclusive company that represents artists of black and Asian descent. ...

Creator: Wilkie Branson   Reviewer:  Richard Maguire Dancer Wilkie Branson’s new film TOM is full of foreboding and intrigue.  Shadowy figures populate stunning landscapes and dystopian cities in this story of a man trying to find his place in the world. The film certainly looks good, and if Keanu Reeves were to make a dance movie then TOM might be the result. ...

Reviewer: Jane Austwick Wieke Eringa, Artistic Director of Yorkshire Dance, sums up the aims and intentions of the Encounters Festival: Yorkshire Dance is building a community of activists – from all walks of life – around performances addressing some of the big questions of our age. Encounters has brought together inspiring dance artists with a diverse crowd to share food, ...

 Performers:  The Mark Morris Dance Group and the Silkroad Ensemble Reviewer:  Richard Maguire While not quite the national anthem of Azerbaijan, Uzeyir Hajibeyli’s Leyli and Majnun, first produced in 1908, is lauded as the first Islamic opera. It comes to Sadler’s Wells in a shortened version that is part opera, part dance and part art installation. Although difficult to appreciate at ...

Music: Pascal Dusapin Directors: Michael McCarthy & Caroline Finn Choreography: Caroline Finn Reviewer: Peter Jacobs Passion is a 2009 opera by French composer Pascal Dusapin that adds a contemporary twist to the legend of Orpheus, presented as a work for body and voice: a Dance Opera. This is a collaboration (their first) between Music Theatre Wales and London Sinfonietta, conducted by ...

Creator: Matthias Sperling Reviewer: Maryam Philpott If you have spent much time with academics, you’ll know that the format of lectures and presentations is much the same. Regardless of discipline, venue and topic, there is usually some kind of PowerPoint presentation with too much text on each slide and the odd bit of clipart if the lecturer wants a bit ...

Music: Hofesh Shechter Choreographer: Hofesh Shechter Reviewer: Jo Beggs A line of dancers appear, backlit on a smoky stage. Their slow, deliberate and immaculately coordinated movement, with the backdrop thudding drumbeat, is both beautiful and unsettling. In the first of a three short acts (The Entrance), eight clowns create tightly synchronised movement, sharply composed tableaux and joyful prancing. Then things ...