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CLASSICAL DANCE Scottish Ballet
National Tour
Touring it it
Still without an artistic director, Scottish Ballet IS once again on tour ‘.Vlih a trio of small works. This time, the focus is on offering opportunities for young choreographic talent from Withllt the company, Great idea ~lrame aboot some of the Judgement on the pieces chosen A saving grace is the opportunity to see some younger dancers growuig into roles, wrth Robert Doherty and Ari Takahashi showrng y-Jelcome enthusiasm and commitment
Micaela Greganti's 'Frrst Movernent' opens the programme, and is undoubtedly the best work on show. It's a playful and perky matching of energetic dance to a Prokofiev piano concerto, and the dancers look like they're emoying it t's nice to see a young choreographer who remembers ti; choreograph arms and hands as well as legs anc feet, produc'urg a fluid oiec e With genuine energy
‘Bitter Destiny' is an attempt by Ivan Dinev tell a rather involved and dismal tale of rtiarital strife through The ,t;>rv is conveyed reasonath well, though the mime and gesture veer at times toward the excesses of Sowet dance It's all ur‘idernandingly iic'c,»—c!ass:cal, ‘.‘.’lill z'ic;~rnerits of wafting ti pad it out, but
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CLASSICAL BALLET Swan Lake E’Iifibtl'glt L‘estxa: Theatre, Eton 28
See-Sat 3 Oct
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Playful and perky: Yi-Lei Cai and Ari Talcahashi in First Movement
to Britten. Instead, it becomes a mish- mash of depressingly forgettable little numbers, somehow managing to be neither a cohesive whole nor a tasty smorgasbord of movement
The costumes are overwhelmingly unflattering and the b0uncy rnUSIc is buried under an unending sequence of short dances consistently lacking in musicality One trio choreographed by Catarina Lappin briefly captures the playful atmosohere that the piano pieces demand, but generally it's a messy, often sloppin danced finale to a programme that leaves lingering doubts about the company's artistic health (Don Morris) For tour dates, see page 62
anything to offer, it should be their sense of that tradition, but many companies seem to flounder at a halfway house Not so With St Petersburg Bailet Theatre's production, which does as much to challenge perceptions as Boorne's version Stylish, riveting and utterly traditional, it has the flavour, spirit and enchantment of a lost era And maybe this 'sn't so surprising, since St Petersburg is not only the birthplace of Russian Classical Ballet, but also Tchaikovsky
At the centre of Swan Lake rs a potent love story and — as ‘.'-Jlill all good love stories there is a barrier to that iove lvlar_,ar'ta Kouyllik and Vladimir Kirn's portrayal of the lovers is not only beautifully danced, but also sincerely acted Kouyllik's swan-like are subtle and the dancer disappears and the enchanted swan takes over The transformation into Odrlle 57‘, AN. Th'ee ‘s also handled w th great 'rc'"‘,"_:‘."ty behind the v:rtuos'ty arrr: “our-sh, there sc-nse of both
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“3””; curttntmy pet'oa- nan/n iho'er_>';rat;hy is simply aid 'i'acefully :resentwl There are he but a subtle -i:tc-<:rrty that of‘c-rs a stimulating 't".'|‘)i’-.'l, rvitr‘ of ‘le ballet and of tie Tradition rRohin Iarnesi
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:Lazt set-n at Theatre f-cival, Cylascjov,
reviews THEATRE
CITIZENS THEATRE
www.citz.co.uk
Autumn 1998 Men Should Weep
by Ena Lamont Stewart 25 Sept - 17 Oct
The Fall or The House
Of Usher . by Edgar Allan Poe 24 Sept - 17 Oct
Rameau’s Nephew by Denis Diderot 23 Sept - 17 Oct
The Homecoming by Harold Pinter 30 Oct - 14 Nov
Medea by Seneca 29 Oct - 21 Nov
Oleanna by David Mamet 28 Oct - 21 Nov
Merlin the Magnificent by Stuart Paterson 24 Nov - 26 Dec '
The Killing of Sister George ' by Frank Marcus 3 - 23 Dec'
Summit Conference by Robert David MacDonald 2 - 23 Dec '
. £81£2 0141 4290022
t x i “R THELIST59