A dazzling night at the 7th Iván Nagy International Ballet Gala 2023

Hungarian National Ballet in The Kingdom of the Shades from La Bayadère

Liza Gulyás, Máté Vincze Bertalan, Hungarian National Ballet Institute in Milongueando en el 40

Yourim Lee and Motomi Kiyota Diana and Actaeon pas de deux

Hungarian National Ballet in Hans van Manen's Five Tangos

By Jonathan Gray, 30 May 2023

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“with bravura and showstopping tricks, it had the audience roaring its approval”

Reviewed at Hungarian State Opera: Auditorium, Budapest on 27 May 2023

Hungarian National Ballet

Paul Connelly, Conductor

Tamás Solymosi, Director

Jacopo Tissi, Dancer

Gergely Leblanc, Dancer

Lili Felméry, Dancer

Inés Furuhashi-Huber, Dancer

Miyu Takamori, Dancer

Valerio Palumbo, Dancer

Gergö Ármin Balázsi, Dancer

Yourim Lee, Dancer

Alejandro Virelles, Dancer

So Are We: León and Lightfoot is a long overdue triumph

Deborah Weiss, 11th June

The Royal Ballet has acquired a double bill from Sol León and Paul Lightfoot that transcended even the highest expectations. An evening to watch over and over again.

*****

Polish National Ballet: Delusions – standing up for women’s rights

Graham Watts, 11th June

Two distinctly different stories represent women's right to freedom in Delusions, Izadora Weiss’ latest full-length work for Polish National Ballet.

****1

Kontakthof: Echoes of ’78 and Music Music – contrasts in Lugano

Vito Lentini, 11th June

Completely engaging performance of Pina Bausch’s Kontakthof: Echoes of ’78 finds our reviewer disappointed with Music Music from Trajal Harrell in Lugano.

***11

Dutch National Ballet’s Masters of Movement: mixed results

Mark Vicente, 11th June

Dutch National Ballet presents a triple bill of interesting contemporary works that show off the depth of talent within all ranks of the company.

***11

This is Rambert: all in the present tense

Graham Watts, 10th June

Rambert celebrates 100 years presenting a triple bill of recent or new works. The message is clearly to look forward and not back.

***11

National Ballet of Japan's Swan Lake: tragic but mesmerising

Naomi Mori, 5th June

National Ballet of Japan’s revival of Sir Peter Wright’s Swan Lake showed the company in good form, especially among the unified corps de ballet Swans.

****1

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Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray was born in Wales and studied at The Royal Ballet School, Leicester Polytechnic and Wimbledon School of Art. He was a member of the curatorial department of The Theatre Museum, London, from 1989 until 2005, and was editor of Dancing Times from 2008 until its closure in 2022.