Ian Macmillan

Wednesday 1 April, 2020 Obituary – Willy Burmann, Dancer & Teacher: Juan Michael Porter II, BWW Dance Features: - Choreography of the streets: How we use our bodies to navigate a pandemic: Gia Kourlas, NY Times - Queensland Ballet dancers doing class at home: Jo Litson, Limelight Interviews/Q&As: - Misty Copeland: Susannah Hutcheson, USA Today - Rambert’s Daniel Davidson: Lorna Irvine, Fjord Review - Errol White & Davina Givan: Roisin O’Brien, Fjord Review Stream Review – BalletBoyz, DeLuxe: Anna Winter, The Stage Catch-up Review – Focus Dance Company, After Party, Taipei: David Mead, SeeingDance Things to see: - Bolshoi & National Theatre: Staff, SCMP - Bolshoi, RDB, POB and others: Amy Brandt, Pointe Magazine

Tuesday 31 March, 2020 Stream Review – BalletBoyz, DeLuxe: Lynette Halewood, DanceTabs News – Kobborg/Polunin R&J rescheduled to 2021: Teresa Guerreiro, Culture Whisper News – Sarasota Ballet to keep paying dancers: Staff, BWW Things to do: - Scottish Ballet classes: Catriona Stewart, Glasgow Times - Northern Ballet at home: Emma Ryan, Yorks Evening Post - Working out down under: Jenny Valentish, The Guardian - RAD Silver Swans Online: Sue Learner, Homecare

Naomi: You are quite correct - mea maxima culpa. I should have cottoned onto a delay of just weeks being unlikely.

In what may yet prove to be a triumph of hope over experience, I see that the RAH Performance has been rescheduled for 6 May: https://www.culturewhisper.com/r/dance/polunin_cojocaru_kobborg_romeoandjuliet_rah/15166

Monday 30 March, 2020 Catch-up Reviews: - 2Faced Dance, Everything [but the girl], London: Maggie Foyer, SeeingDance - CoDance Festival, Programme C, Taipei: David Mead, SeeingDance Streaming Reviews/Previews: - Royal Ballet School, Peter and The Wolf: Georgina Wells, BTG - BalletBoyz, DeLuxe: Maggie Foyer, Critical Dance - Northern Ballet, Dracula: Teresa Guerreiro, Culture Whisper On the West Coast - For dancers and choreographers, life is ‘grief and fear’: Makeda Easter, LA Times Feature – National Water Dance, 18 April: Jordan Levin, MIami Herald Online classes – YAGP-sponsored and other classes: Jerry Hochman, Critical Dance

Sunday 29 March, 2020 With live performances at an end everywhere for now, Dance and Arts writers are having to be inventive to fill space. Links galore to online resources have been posted elsewhere on the Forum in recent days and may well be repeated here: Feature – Significant works for the critics: Bidisha & Sarah Crompton, The Observer (Via the Dance button) Selected Online Resources: - Royal Ballet: via Critical Dance - Northern Ballet: via SeeingDance - Dutch National Opera & Ballet: via SeeingDance - Streamed Dance Classes: via NY Observer

We had a 100% turnout, as far as I could tell, at the end of our twisting road in Bishop's Stortford. I ventured a couple of "Bravos" out loud and a mild touch of rowdiness ensued.

Luke Jennings (Ex-Observer critic) is certainly not leaving this alone on Twitter.

Or he has chosen to go? As mentioned .... questions.

Copied from a Tweet. An odd conclusion - if, indeed, that's what it is - to the situation.

With theatres dark and companies unable to give public performances, we will no longer carry out our customary exhaustive Links trawls. Instead, and until matters improve, we intend to post any worthwhile Links that we find as and when we find them. We can but hope that normality will prevail as soon as possible. Sunday 22 March, 2020 Catch-up Reviews: - Northern Ballet, Geisha, Leeds: Amina Alyal, Sunday Times - National Ballet of Canada, Romeo and Juliet (Ratmansky), Toronto: Denise Sum, Danceviewtimes Interview - Sergei Polunin on becoming a dad and his troubled past: Decca Aitkenhead, Sunday Times News - Russia’s Perm Opera Ballet to perform for an audience of one: Staff, Radio Free Europe

Links – Saturday 21 March, 2020 The thrice-accursed virus continues to dominate, with nothing to report other than reactions: - Michelle Potter catches up on a Royal Ballet Swan Lake DVD: ... on dancing - but Scottish Ballet won’t open theirs: Nadine McBay, The National - Royal Opera House Online: Zoe Paskett, Evening Standard - Why dancing makes you happier: Dr Peter Lovatt, The Times BUT, we’ll see what the Sunday papers/magazines bring and decide how/if this service can continue.

Is anybody going to buy the magazine at £8.99 when they could have it as part of the Sunday Times for just £2.90?

Stopped me dead during this morning's Links trawl - nicely done. She's not alone - the Alvin Ailey dancers are also working from home, as you'll see from a NY Times link.

Links – Friday 20 March, 2020 Review – Richard Alston Dance Company, Final Edition, London: Sara Veale, Fjord Review Non-review – Pacific Northwest Ballet, One Thousand Pieces, Empire Noir, Seattle: Rich Smith, The Stranger Otherwise, Arts writers react to the current situation ……. - How the UK Arts World Shut Up Shop: Richard Morrison, The Times - We will rescue the Arts world from its worst ever week: Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph ..... and suggest things to watch at home: - Alvin Ailey Dancers & a bit of Revelations: Gia Kourlas, NY Times - Theatre and Dance: Chris Wiegand, The Guardian

Links – Thursday 19 March, 2020 Well – it has happened. This morning’s trawl across the English-speaking world has disclosed nothing of a sort that we would normally include here. Dance Magazine has put up a list of online performances – some excerpts are at that link. “We will get through this” we say – yet it must be fair to say that we cannot predict with any certainty just how that will be done, or what will emerge from the tunnel we have just entered. One writer for the Glasgow Herald offers a thought here. For now, stay safe and let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Links – Wednesday 18 March, 2020 Feature – Akram Khan & Creature– we are living in really dark times: Debra Craine, The Times Review – Richard Alston Dance Company, Final Edition, London: Rachel Elderkin, The Stage Covid-19 features: - Italian dancers coping with lockdown: Marina Harss, NY Times - Theatre Online or at Home – various sources: Staff, London Theatre 1 - Dance & Music Streaming: Janos Gereben, SF Classical Voice - A virtual class at home? Suggestions: Chava Lansky, Pointe Magazine - Jamaris Mitchell of Ailey II: her big debut, and then ...: Max Lakin, NY Times (Scroll down) - Organise your Library? Christopher Knight, LA Times - Korean dancer fired for breaking quarantine: Kwak Yeon-soo, Korea Times Feature – Manuel Liñán (Viva!) & Rocío Molina: Marina Harss, NY Times Review – Wei Tzu-ling & Albert Garcia + Dancers, How we go, Taipei: David Mead, SeeingDance Review – Daniel Nodder + Audience, Stepping Up, Wellington, Theatreview Feature – Gray Veredon, Choreographer: Michelle Potter, ... on dancing

Links – Tuesday 17 March, 2020 Reflection – What we’re losing as stages go dark: Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times News – Coronavirus – Some lists of Major Cancellations, UK & Abroad: Staff, The Guardian Jessie Thompson, Evening Standard Brian Ferguson, The Scotsman Staff, Chicago Sun-Times Angus McPherson, Limelight Reviews – Northern Ballet, Geisha, Leeds: Donald Hutera, The Times Richard Trinder, Yorkshire Times Anna Winter, The Stage James Ballands, BTG Review – Australian Ballet, Volt – Chroma, Logos, Dyad 1929, Melbourne: Susan Bendall, Dance Australia Review – Crystal Pite/Kidd Pivot, Revisor: Richard Alston, Final Edition, London: Ka Bradley, The Spectator Review – Liquid Loft, Foreign Tongues, Philadelphia: Camille Bacon-Smith, Broad Street Review Review – Keir Choreographic Award 2020, Sydney: Geraldine Higginson, Dance Australia News with a ballet tinge (+ the Moonies)! NY Times And just when it’s needed: Scenic Eye Candy – 11 Incredible Sets from Australian Ballet! Bec Whish, Vogue Australia

Links are going to get a tad sparse ...........

Links – Monday 16 March, 2020 Reviews – Northern Ballet, Geisha, Leeds: Sanjoy Roy, Guardian Mark Brown, Telegraph Ray Taylor, Reviews Hub Review – Acosta Danza, Evolution, Bradford: Beverley Waddington, Reviews Hub Review – Lyon Opera Ballet, Trois Grandes Fugues, Wellington: Jennifer Shennan, ... on dancing Review – Rambert, Enter Achilles, Adelaide: Jill Sykes, The Age Review – 2Faced Dance Company, The Qualies, Hollow in a World Too Full, 7.0, London: John O’Dwyer, Seen and Heard Reports – Keir Choreographic Award 2020, Sydney: Julia Cotton, Sydney Morning Herald Justine Nguyen, Limelight Covid-19: - A Dance reaction in Boston: Debra Cash, Arts Fuse

Links – Sunday 15 March, 2020 Reviews – Australian Ballet, Volt – Chroma, Logos, Dyad 1929, Melbourne: Emma Sullivan, Sydney Morning Herald Rhys Ryan, Limelight London Reviews – Richard Alston Dance Company, Final Edition: Royal Ballet, Swan Lake David Dougill, Sunday Times Sarah Crompton, Observer Preview – Northern Ballet, Geisha, Leeds: Chris Bond, Yorkshire Evening Post Review – National Ballet of Canada, Romeo and Juliet (Ratmansky), Toronto: Penelope Ford, Globe and Mail Documentary – Cunningham: Teresa Guerreiro, Culture Whisper News – BBC Arts 2020 dance season: Staff, Seeing Dance News – Dance cancellations in Australia: Valerie Lawson, dancelines

San Francisco Ballet has announced an extension of its closure. Programmes 5 and 6 (incl Cathy Marston's Mrs Robinson premiere) are cancelled, so that's through to early April.

After doing Links for 10 years now, I do sometimes wonder whether, if the NY Times critics saw a little less and spent more time at home, they might enjoy more of what they would then see. I mean, if I were on the go to theatres several nights a week, might I get just a tad blasé about much of what I was seeing? Just asking .........

The title above is pretty much self-explanatory - link here: https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/86991/page/1 Forward and back buttons etc at the bottom of each page.

Back to basics for me in that the narrative arc that Cathy wanted to portray in her story of 'Love and Loss' started in childhood, so a significant aspect would have been lost.