Lynette H

It was at Sadler's earlier this month. Fabulous staging and wonderful music. One of the highlights of the year so far.

From 23 November "In a crumbling house full of dinosaur bones and fossils, three adopted sisters – Pauline, Petrova and Posy – are learning who they are and what they want to be. Under the watchful eyes and guidance of their guardian Sylvia, Nana, and some unlikely lodgers, they fight to pursue their individual passions. But in a world that wasn’t built for women with big ambitions, can they forge a future, keep their family together, and even learn a dance or two along the way? Katy Rudd (The Ocean at the End of the Lane) returns to the National Theatre to direct this spectacular re-imagining of Noel Streatfeild’s beloved novel, in a new version by Kendall Feaver (The Almighty Sometimes)." Public booking opens 2 May.

You can buy it from the ballet Boyz web site for dowload (DVD out of stock)

Young Men by the Ballet Boyz ? A group piece set in the first world war, later made into a film. It was shown on the BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0834qvd

This is now open for booking at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, 10 - 15 Dec. Details here (not that there are many at this point) https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/performance-dance/carlos-acostas-nutcracker-havana?eventId=985251 Acosta Danza is not mentioned but I would imagine that it's them. Tickets are fairly expensive.

The dance related awards were Gillian Lynne award for best theatre choreographer Arlene Phillips with James Cousins for Guys and Dolls at the Bridge theatre Best new dance production La Ruta by Gabriela Carrizo, part of Nederlands Dans theater – NDT 1 at Sadler’s Wells Outstanding achievement in dance Isabela Coracy for her performance in NINA: By Whatever Means, part of Ballet Black: Pioneers at the Barbican theatre Also Best new opera production Innocence by the Royal Opera at the Royal Opera House Outstanding achievement in opera Antonio Pappano for his role as Musical Director of the Royal Opera House

Sorry to report a complete failure of the cinema relay in south London last night. They just couldn't get it to work. Many apologies from the Odeon staff and a refund processed straight away. A pity. My only chance to see Hayward missed.

In the recent article in the Times on Carmen, there was a detail that no one here seemed to have picked up on . "Acosta also plans to augment the Acosta Danza cast by bringing in a trio of dancers (Yaoqian Shang, Javier Rojas and Lachlan Monaghan) from BRB...to share the main roles" The Acosta Danza Carmen performances at Sadler's Wells in July are very nearly sold out already, but thought some readers here might be interested.

Details here https://www.sadlerswells.com/a-kaleidoscope-of-dance-march-2024/?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ZSEMEM03Active031424&utm_content=version_A This autumn from Sept in brief London City Ballet ENB Khan Giselle National Ballet of Canada New Hofesh Shechter BRB Luna BRB Fille Akram Khan new work Gigensis Michael Keegan-Dolan new work Matthew Bourne Swan Lake Plus lots of others. No word yet on when Sadler's Wells East will open or what the programme will be, but it is supposed to be this year.

I saw UniVerse in the Linbury last year. The visual effects are very impressive. It might be better to approach this as an art installation which has a modest amount of dancing involved. I hope at Sadler's they can replicate the giant fish hologram (or projection) which in the Linbury I could have sworn was floating above the stalls area.

"This Season, Next Generation Festival features performances from BRNO National Theatre Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet 2, New English Ballet Theatre, The Royal Ballet School, CHANCE2DANCE (Chance to Dance Legacy Company, Chance to Dance Connect, The Royal Ballet School’s Primary Steps, National Youth Ballet and Joe Powell-Main), German National Youth Ballet (BundesJugendBallet), ZooNation Youth Company, Rambert School and English National Ballet School." Details here https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/festival/the-next-generation-festival-2024-details A couple of these companies are new to me - can anyone give us a bit more detail on BRNO and the German National Youth Ballet, for example ? And what sort of rep they might be bringing.

More on this "Birmingham’s cultural figures from Carlos Acosta and Joe Lycett to Duran Duran and Napalm Death have criticised the 100% cut made by the city council to its arts funding which they say will “devastate” the arts ecosystem in Britain’s second city. The complete defunding of arts organisations, including Ikon Gallery, Birmingham Royal Ballet and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, was announced this week as the council plans £300m worth of cuts over the next two years." https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/23/joe-lycett-others-condemn-100-budget-cut-birmingham-arts

Birmingham City council is virtually bankrupt. Latest cuts to the arts are reported on the BBC as follows "There will be a cut to all funding for culture projects and local arts development, including support for 10 local arts forums. Support will initially be retained for Black History Month and Birmingham Heritage Week in 2024/25 but those events will face a 100% cut from 2025/26. Birmingham International Dance Festival will lose its £350,000 funding Grants to regularly-funded arts organisations will face 50% cuts this year and 100% next financial year. They include: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Birmingham REP Theatre Birmingham Royal Ballet IKON Gallery Birmingham Opera Company FABRIC Sampad Ex Cathedra Legacy Centre of Excellence B:Music Funding to attract tourism will also be cut by £25,000." More at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-birmingham-68340410?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=65d4ac4a57c60b5283ad3083%26Culture+cuts+on+the+way%262024-02-20T15%3A49%3A17.976Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn%3Aasset%3A1be496aa-5fb3-49f2-9516-8897c5616eed&pinned_post_asset_id=65d4ac4a57c60b5283ad3083&pinned_post_type=share&at_format=link&at_medium=social&at_link_id=ECF7693C-D00A-11EE-BBFA-D3F9413A1DFE&at_bbc_team=editorial&at_campaign_type=owned&at_link_type=web_link&at_ptr_name=twitter&at_link_origin=bbcmtd&at_campaign=Social_Flow Grim.

The Ashton Foundation Masterclass on Sunday 18th February was excellent. Anthony Dowell coached Sae Maeda and Leo Dixon in the Thais pas de deux. This was one of the most enjoyable of these sessions that I've been to. Dowell was very engaged and keen to get the best out of the dancers. And full of anecdotes too. I hope this makes it to the web site soon. There was some vintage film of Ashton coaching Sibley and Dowell from 1972 in a BBC programme. I hope that can be included.

Bruce I suspect you might be thinking of Mark Bruce's Dracula, a production from a few years back with Jonathan Goddard. Frankenstein is a new show (also with Jonathan Goddard).