Cinderella in-the-round is a spectacle for English National Ballet

Erina Takahashi as Cinderella and Francesco Gabriele Frola as Prince Guillaume in Cinderella

English National Ballet in Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella

Katja Khaniukova, Ken Saruhashi and Fernanda Oliveira in Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella

Francesco Gabriele Frola and Erina Takahashi in Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella

English National Ballet in Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella

By Graham Watts, 19 June 2023

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“It is a case, quite literally, of a square peg not quite fitting the round hole”

Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 15 June 2023

Cinderella (Christopher Wheeldon)

English National Ballet

Gavin Sutherland, Conductor

Natasha Katz, Lighting Designer

English National Ballet Philharmonic

Erina Takahashi, Dancer

Francesco Gabriele Frola, Dancer

Ken Saruhashi, Dancer

Katja Khaniukova, Dancer

Fernanda Oliveira, Dancer

Sarah Kundi, Dancer

James Streeter, Dancer

Atlanta Ballet shines in a mixed contemporary program

Rebecca Ehrhardt, 3rd April

Atlanta Ballet's Golden Hour program featured two world premieres and the Atlanta premiere of Christopher Wheeldon's Within the Golden Hour.

*****

NYCB: Ratmansky’s The Naked King is not satire, but good fun

Ivy Lin, 7th February

New York City Ballet presents a very entertaining quadruple bill which includes Alexei Ratmansky’s latest work, The Naked King, showing off the company’s comic talents.

****1

The Royal Ballet’s Like Water for Chocolate is sumptuous but complex

Amanda Jennings, 1st October

The Royal Ballet’s season opener, Christopher Wheeldon’s Like Water for Chocolate, is visually tremendous, very well danced but the many principal and soloist characters are difficult to keep up with.

****1

Ballet Nights makes an impressive and unforgettable Scottish debut

Kathy Elgin, 4th July

Ballet Nights is more than an evening of party pieces: it showcases emerging talent alongside older favourites and, in the case of this first Scottish outing, has an eye to local tradition.

****1

ABT in Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale: CliffsNotes Shakespeare

Ivy Lin, 2nd July

Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale is a sumptuous looking production but on this occasion, it didn’t come to life emotionally.

***11

Wheeldon’s Alice: The Royal Ballet shines in a vehicle of excellence

Amanda Jennings, 13th June

Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland shows off The Royal Ballet's roster of supreme dance actors in every version of technical wizardry and comic incarnation.

****1

More reviews...

Graham Watts

Graham Watts is a freelance dance writer and critic writing regularly for Dancing Times, Dance Europe, Danza Europa, and many more publications. He regularly writes features for Sadler’s Wells, London Coliseum and La Scala. Chairman of the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle in the United Kingdom and of the UK National Dance Awards he has interviewed many of the greatest names in dance including Maya Plisetskaya, Vladimir Vasiliev, Boris Eifman, Alexei Ratmansky, Andris Liepa, Sir Peter Wright, David Bintley and Dame Gillian Lynne. When not involved in dance Graham is a keen fencer, and has captained the British Sabre team.