Flipping the norms: Israel Galván's La Fiesta

By Graham Watts, 30 April 2019

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“you can take flamenco out of Andalusia but it is difficult to remove Andalusia from flamenco!”

Reviewed at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London on 27 April 2019

Israel Galván, Dancer

Alia Sellami, Vocals

Eloisa Cantón, Bass

Niño de Elche, Vocals

Ramón Martinez, Dancer

A Streetcar Named Desire: a gripping retelling at Ballett am Rhein

Vikki Jane Vile, 8th May

Ballet isn’t always pretty, there are plenty of examples in repertoires across the world. John Neumeier’s Streetcar Named Desire (Endstation Sehnsucht) is to reach another level of grim but gripping brutality told through dance.

****1

The Great Gatsby at Kansas City Ballet

Hilary Stroh, 8th May

Septime Webre’s dazzling, maximalist Great Gatsby for the Kansas City Ballet is instantly engaging.

*****

Royal Danish Ballet’s Lady Macbeth: Akram Khan works his magic again

Graham Watts, 7th May

An excellent extension to Akram Khan’s growing repertoire of contemporary ballet, Lady Macbeth, his first creation for Royal Danish Ballet, brought out powerful performances from the entire cast.

****1

The Trocks at Sadler’s Wells: uproariously entertaining

Graham Watts, 5th May

A very welcome and hilarious return to the UK from Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, this time at Sadler’s Wells, they offer familiar and new works.

****1

Contemporary escapism at New York City Ballet

Carla Escoda, 1st May

A longtime NYCB fan favorite, Concerto DSCH by Alexei Ratmansky, meets the New York premiere of Christopher Wheeldon's Continuum. But the evening belonged to corps dancer Ruby Lister in Edwaard Liang’s Distant Cries.

****1

Parsons Dance brings the fun to modern at the Joyce Theater

Ivy Lin, 1st May

Six works, including two world premieres, made up the latest program from Parsons Dance. Thoroughly joyful, the audience were sent home buzzing.

*****

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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.

Flipping the norms: Israel Galván's La Fiesta at Sadler's Wells