New English Ballet Theatre and Norwegian National Ballet 2 ooze talent

New English Ballet Theatre in Matthew Ball's Acts of Exaltation

Jose Alves and Emily Pohl in Daniela Cardim's Baroque Encounters

Norwegian National Ballet 2 in Anaîs Touret's Where It Began

Alicia Rose Couvrette and Giuseppe Ventura in Kumiko Hayakawa's Limerence

Taeryeong Kim and Dmytro Litvinov in Lightfoot/León's Step Lightly

By Deborah Weiss, 17 June 2024

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“Beautifully stretched feet, lovely lines and light, airy ballon were matched with warm personalities”

Reviewed at Royal Opera House: Linbury Theatre, London on 15 June 2024

Acts of Exaltation (New English Ballet Theatre) (Matthew Ball)

Baroque Encounters (New English Ballet Theatre) (Daniela Cardim)

Step Lightly (Norwegian National Ballet 2) (Paul Lightfoot, Sol León)

Limerence (Norwegian National Ballet 2) (Kumiko Hayakawa)

Where It Began (Norwegian National Ballet 2) (Anaïs Touret)

New English Ballet Theatre

Norwegian National Ballet 2

Love, humour and drama at the Staatsballett Berlin

Vikki Jane Vile, 15th November

Staatsballett Berlin continue its run of this popular double bill, 2 Chapters Love, named after Sharon Eyal’s work and a follow up to 2017’s to Love Chapter 2.

****1

Norwegian National Ballet: a showstopping triple bill

Graham Watts, 3rd February

An adventurous triple bill of vintage works new to Norway.

****1

The Australian Ballet's “beautiful monster” is dance perfection

Chantal Nguyen, 3rd May

The Australian Ballet's impressively-danced Kunstkamer is a work of astonishing scale, originality, and warmth, choreographed by Paul Lighfoot, Sol León, Marco Goecke and Crystal Pite.

*****

NDT2 in Berlin: Let the Dust settle

Katja Vaghi, 11th October

NDT 2’s 'microcosm' is on display at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele with a mixed bill of four works created for these young talents

***11

NDT brings a successful mixed programme to London

Graham Watts, 26th June

Everything Pite choreographs turns to gold and when Young is also involved it’s an especially rich vein.

****1

A feast of virtuosi dances

Lambrecht Wessels, 24th May

Shut Eye (Lightfoot & León) is like an alternating current. Woke Up Blind (Goecke) is entertaining and vulnerable. Pite's work hits the rythmic nail on the head. You want to freeze-frame Pite's dancers, snap a picture and hang it on the wall.

****1

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Deborah Weiss

Deb joined Bachtrack in 2022 and commissions reviews and writing on ballet and dance. She was Royal Ballet School-trained and is a former principal dancer for companies including London Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet) and Bayerisches Staatsballett. She has been writing for more than 30 years – publications have included Dancing Times, DanceTabs, Dance for You and Dance Europe. She also interviews for Voices of British Ballet, an oral archive of people who have worked in the industry in the UK. In addition to her writing, since 2016 she has been facilitating programmes that support victims of domestic abuse. Deb is passionate about her rescue dog, Bruce, and daughters (not in that order), swims a mile at least five days a week and is an avid reader.