Jan McNulty Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Judith Mackrell is stepping down from her post as dance critic at the Guardian. Lyndsey Winship (ex Evening Standard) has been appointed in her place. According to the news article Ms Mackrell will continue contributing to the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-press-office/2018/may/22/lyndsey-winship-appointed-guardian-dance-critic-as-judith-mackrell-steps-down 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Didn't see that coming.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Lyndsey Winship is first rate when writing about contemporary dance, but ballet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 The Guardian's coverage of ballet (and classical music and opera for that matter) has been looking pretty scant for a while IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 A pity. I think Winship's ballet reviews in the Evening Standard were pathetic. A difficult task, perhaps, given the lack of space given to ballet reviews in that paper. Another reason to continue reading Balletcoforum: there are many posters here who are far better informed and whose reviews I have found more illuminating. Has there also been a change at the FT? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Newcombe Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 2 hours ago, Lizbie1 said: The Guardian's coverage of ballet (and classical music and opera for that matter) has been looking pretty scant for a while IMO. Sign of the times. I remember Judith Mackrell as dance critic of The Independent. Half a page or more when it was a broadsheet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 42 minutes ago, Darlex said: Has there also been a change at the FT? That's a good point: I can't see any reviews by Clement Crisp since February. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Indeed. I was wondering what Mr Crisp thought of the new Swan Lake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 After some years of trawling for our daily Links section, you pick up a thing or two - one of these being that newspaper critics will usually be writing with a words limit to fit a day's edition. For example, I picked up that Judith Mackrell had only 500 words for one of her most recent pieces whereas, when she does her occasional Guardian online blog pieces, I doubt there's any limit of that kind. And it may be that it will be these that she will continue to contribute. Elsewhere, Dance coverage in the Evening Standard has visibly shrunk in the past year, I'd say. And whilst I've seen no announcement, it does very much look as if Clement Crisp has retired at the FT, with Louise Levene taking over. And for Links overall, we have a fair number of online 'journals' that have emerged in the past 5 years or so, sources that did not exist when we were doing Links back on ballet.co, for example. In general, these permit writers to expand in a way that newspapers apparently cannot, or will not. The internet is changing things, and not just on our local High Streets. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 33 minutes ago, Mary said: Indeed. I was wondering what Mr Crisp thought of the new Swan Lake. He seems to like to review Osipova - if he's planning to publish his views, he might be waiting on Monday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 10 hours ago, Tony Newcombe said: Sign of the times. I remember Judith Mackrell as dance critic of The Independent. Half a page or more when it was a broadsheet. Yes, I remember those heady days when ballet critics really knew their stuff and were given the space to share their knowledge and opinions with us. One of my great pleasures back in the 80s, when I was in my 20s, was to take a blanket, one of those new-fangled Walkmans, and a bottle of water or juice to Regent's Park on a warm Sunday afternoon. I would buy The Observer on the way, and once ensconced on the blanket would turn immediately to Jann Parry's reviews. Beautifully written, informative, and well worth a few perusals. Sadly, we seem to have lost all that now. I agree with Darlex; I learn a lot more from the posters on this forum than I do from any other critical source. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Certainly haven't lost Jann Parry's thoughtful reviews thanks to Bruce Marriott and DanceTabs. She's had two in this week. And you can read them on your iPhone! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Yes, I read her reviews religiously! It's just not quite the same as having a newspaper, turning the pages to find the review, and then being able to sit and read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, Ian Macmillan said: Elsewhere, Dance coverage in the Evening Standard has visibly shrunk in the past year, I'd say. You're quite right, since the paper became a freebie, arts coverage in the standard has shrunk, but particularly under the present editor. I don't know how far back you go, but I remember Sydney Edwards, possible the best arts editor any newspaper ever had, he loved the ballet and actually embedded himself with the Royal Ballet on one of the tours to the US, actually reporting from their plane mid air on the flight over. Happy days. Edited May 23, 2018 by MAB typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 I have sighted Clement Crisp recently but I wonder whether anyone actually saw him at the opening night of Swan Lake. It would have been very unlike him to miss out on an important occasion like that even if he does want to watch Osipova. 2 hours ago, Ian Macmillan said: After some years of trawling for our daily Links section, you pick up a thing or two - one of these being that newspaper critics will usually be writing with a words limit to fit a day's edition. Which makes it all the more disappointing that many of them tend to regale us with the story of a ballet and often say so little about the performance itself . That's fine when it's a new production but it's not helpful otherwise. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Newcombe Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 51 minutes ago, capybara said: I have sighted Clement Crisp recently but I wonder whether anyone actually saw him at the opening night of Swan Lake. It would have been very unlike him to miss out on an important occasion like that even if he does want to watch Osipova. Which makes it all the more disappointing that many of them tend to regale us with the story of a ballet and often say so little about the performance itself . That's fine when it's a new production but it's not helpful otherwise. He was not in his usual seat on opening night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 On 23/05/2018 at 11:05, MAB said: You're quite right, since the paper became a freebie, arts coverage in the standard has shrunk, but particularly under the present editor. Yes. Didn't Tamara Rojo, when guest-editing the Today Programme last Christmas, get an admission from him that he was pro the arts? If so, why are they not being given more coverage? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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