Fabulous but too long. Funny but with little to say. Wonderful singers.
Lovely to see SYTYCD stars on stage but nagging suspicion that Shoes is like an overextended group dance from the show.
Now, off to read what everyone else though (including her with the mobile phone light grrrr).
I’m not one for copious notes. I prefer to watch what I’m there to review with a companion who’ll bounce ideas off me after, over a glass of wine after (or two, then maybe down the late night bar…) I perfected the “art” of scrawling notes in the dark in at Resolution! where each night 3 pieces of dance would pass before my eyes, some of it bad beyond belief, occasionally some of it really interesting and excellent. Without fail I’d get home with some pages of benighted script but that paired with my memory of what I’d seen and the emotions it had evoked would get me to a set of concise words that would respectably represent what had gone on and offer a valid opinion.
Never once did I need to use my mobile phone as an emergency light source so I could scribble continuously throughout a performance, making note of each change of scene and movement, rustling my pages as I went.
Yes, this is what the reviewer sat next to me at Sadlers Wells did tonight. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t Clement Crisp or anyone who could reasonably claim they were writing the most important critique of all time. The person on the other side of her had the gumption to say ‘do you mind, that’s really distracting’ and yet the offender paid no heed. There’s a reason you’re asked to turn your mobile phone off at performances and it’s not just about the ringtone (although, inevitably, there was one of those going off too).
I relinquished my first circle press seat at the interval and went and sat at the back of the stalls instead. It was the right move.
I was overjoyed to be at Rambert’s mixed bill last Wednesday and witness such a brilliant programme performed with such energy, elan and artistry. I feared my favourite company was on the slide… I’ve been proved wrong. New additions to the team have refreshed them since I last saw them at Sadlers a couple of years ago and for once, I thoroughly enjoyed a Siobhan Davies work: Carnival of the Animals was not only classy, quirky and brilliantly performed but hearing Saint Saen’s famous work again, interpreted by Rambert, sent me right back to my childhood when this was one of the most inspiring, inspirational pieces of classical music – scrap that – music, that I’d ever heard. One of the reasons I started playing the cello as a kid – the swan – and yes, he was brilliant here.
Anatomica, also, was awesome. There’s nothing better than seeing these incredible dancers throw themselves around the stage and off precipices.
Not had so many WOWS on my part since I first saw Wayne McGregor’s Detritus performed by the Company (Angela Towler still shines, by the way). Nice work.
My review for Londonist.com here.
I was lucky enough to see Chroma from the front row of the stalls at the Royal Opera House and it totally blew me away. I couldn’t do a review… I was barely coherent. Edward Watson was stunning up close…. the choreography is just superb on the Royal Ballet dancers…. jibber jibber…. blown away.
So, what a shame that Entity was a total let down in its shadow. Or was it? As Webcowgirl says, other people thought it was genius. One of my non-dance friends was gripped by it, for the full hour. Me & her were bored from the start: whilst appreciating the quality of the production, the calibre of the dancers and the fantastic bodily vocabulary of McGregor, we just didn’t get into it at all.
Where does that leave our critical judgement? Can there be an objective opinion about a piece? Eeeek
Check out YouTube vid on Chroma:
The Sadlers Wells annual Flamenco Festival heats up again.
As previewed on Londonist the popular monthly dance club at the Wells gets carnival.
The hugely successful Sampled returns.
Magic & wonderment fill Sadlers Wells.
I don’t think so. Others do. At least I don’t have to struggle with it anymore.
I’d like to note, though, that Eulalia Ayguade Farro was brilliant in In Your Rooms. Fantastic.
Review on londondance.com: here.
