High-powered, avant-garde flamenco: Romances at London Flamenco Festival

By Cristina de Lucas, 27 March 2013

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Reviewed at Sadler's Wells: Lilian Baylis Studio, London on 22 March 2013

Romances

Dospormedio & Compañía

Valeriano Paños, Dancer

Rafael Estévez, Dancer

Sandra Carrasco, Vocals

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

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.

*****

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

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Cristina de Lucas

After a career in the legal field where she combined her job as an Attorney at Law with collaborative roles in various local and international cultural enterprises, Cristina de Lucas turned to dance research and criticism in 2009, when she moved to London. She obtained her doctorate from the Department of Dance at the University of Roehampton (London). Her fully-funded thesis focused on the confluence between dance and narrative in the repertory of the British choreographer Kenneth MacMillan. Her research has received several awards, such a full Vice-Chancellor scholarship and the 2014 SDHS Graduate Student Travel Grant. She also reviews dance and cinema, contributing regularly to several publications in Spain and UK.