Justitia: Oxford Playhouse

5:10am Thursday 2nd July 2009

Next week dance legend Jasmin Vardimon brings her latest work Justitia to the Oxford Playhouse. It’s a whodunnit, she tells our dance critic David Bellan

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Birmingham Royal Ballet: Birmingham Hippodrome

9:34am Thursday 25th June 2009

Sir Fred and Mr B is the title of a new programme in which the company salutes two of the great choreographers of the last century, Sir Frederick Ashton and George Balanchine. Mr B’s contribution is Mozartiana, which I reviewed recently when it came to Cheltenham. It’s a series of abstract classical dances (well, that’s what you expect from Mr B) set to Tchaikovsky’s rather sugary tribute to the style of Mozart. Pleasant enough; the most enjoyable moments came from Elisha Willis. What a transformation she then underwent to become the alluring gypsy seductress in Sir Fred’s masterpiece, The Two Pigeons!

Dorian Gray: Milton Keynes Theatre

4:27pm Wednesday 10th June 2009

Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, with its homoerotic undertones caused a scandal when published, even though he had been careful not to be too explicit about the relationships portrayed. No need for such caution for Matthew Bourne, who has brought the story forward into the present-day world of fashion and advertising. He has also changed the sex of two characters. The decadent Lord Henry Wotton, who leads Dorian’s descent into depravity, is now Lady H, a female media mogul – a sleek, haughty performance from Michela Meazza. More importantly, the actress Sybil Vane, whom Dorian briefly loves and then destroys, has become the male ballet dancer, Cyril Vane. Bourne told me that he is sure Wilde thought of Vane as a man, even though he did not dare to present him as one.

Ondine: Royal Ballet, Covent Garden

12:33pm Wednesday 3rd June 2009

This was the first night of the 50th anniversary revival of Frederick Ashton’s full length ballet, Ondine. The work was created as a showcase for Margot Fonteyn, who had great success in the leading role of the eponymous water-nymph who has no soul, but can gain one by marrying a mortal, though he will die if he kisses her. The mortal in question is Palemon, originally danced by Michael Somes. Palemon deserts his fiancée Berta to follow his nymph (shades of La Sylphide), but he is relentlessly pursued by Berta. There is no room here for the intricacies of this fanciful plot, but its importance lies in the highly imaginative choreography that Ashton made for Fonteyn, expressing her connection with the sea. To a score he commissioned from Hanz Werner Henze he created a role full of aqueous imagery: rippling movements, arms crossed in a fish-tail shape, and a long solo in which Ondine floats in the remarkably realistic waves, supported by an unseen partner as she swims and rises above the water.

Dorian Gray: Milton Keynes Theatre

7:00am Thursday 28th May 2009

Choreographer Matthew Bourne tells DAVID BELLAN about his production of Dorian Gray

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Richard Alston Dance Company

8:00pm Wednesday 20th May 2009

DAVID BELLAN talks to choreographer Richard Alston about two pieces of work he is set to bring to the city

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Wuthering Heights, Northern Ballet Theatre, Milton Keynes Theartre

1:58pm Wednesday 6th May 2009

David Nixon of Northern Ballet Theatre has made a speciality of telling a dramatic story in sequences of dance that make both the events, and the feelings of the characters, clear. Wuthering Heights, one of hisearliest, is also one of his strongest, most dramatic achievements.

New English Contemporary Ballet, Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham

1:11pm Wednesday 29th April 2009

This company is only a couple of years old and, having missed their visit last year, an unknown quantity for me. But from the first moments of the opening piece, Richard Wherlock’s S(c)ent, it was clear that we were watching a class act. The ten dancers — a very good looking bunch — are gifted technically and musically, and brought beauty and drama to this piece.

New English Contemporary Ballet preview Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham

5:03pm Wednesday 22nd April 2009

I have not yet seen New English Contemporary Ballet, but it’s clear from the dancers’ biographies that it delivers exactly what it says on the tin. They all have a classical ballet training, but they perform contemporary ballet works rather than the tutu’d repertoire.