handel21

Seems to me that McGregor's usual choreographic language (to generalise: edgy, off-centred and very abstract) did not translate well to dance narrative. The mime, especially, which sank the first fifteen minutes for me, was often very dull, and there was far too little dancing considering the 70-odd minutes length (though it felt more like 170 mins to me). The PDD with the Raven Prince (where did he suddenly come from?) and the Raven Girl was effective simply because it was more like the McGregor choreography we know and love. But it was too little too late. It seems that narrative ballets are coming back into fashion, and it seems that McGregor will really have to rethink his style of choreography if he is embrace the challenge. As it stands, Raven Girl is, for me, a very disappointing representation of McGregor's huge talent - or maybe he should stick with abstraction, it didn't do Balanchine any harm! He only produced a handful of narrative works.