Solstice: ENB closes its season with a midsummer gala

By Graham Watts, 18 June 2021

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“Emily Suzuki and Victor Prigent gave exceptionally powerful performances”

Reviewed at Royal Festival Hall, London on 16 June 2021

Coppélia (Extracts from Act 3) (Ronald Hynd)

Dust (Duet) (Akram Khan)

Three Preludes (Ben Stevenson)

Le Corsaire (Pas de trois) (Marius Petipa, Anna Marie Holmes)

The Sleeping Beauty (Jewels) (Marius Petipa, Sir Kenneth MacMillan)

Broken Wings (Pas de deux) (Annabelle Lopez Ochoa)

Hollow (Stina Quagebeur)

Swan Lake: Pas de Deux (Derek Deane)

Playlist (Track 1, 2) (William Forsythe)

English National Ballet

Gavin Sutherland, Conductor

English National Ballet Philharmonic

Fernanda Oliveira, Dancer

Jeffrey Cirio, Dancer

Erina Takahashi, Dancer

James Streeter, Dancer

Emma Hawes, Dancer

Junor Souza, Dancer

Shiori Kase, Dancer

Joseph Caley, Dancer

Francesco Gabriele Frola, Dancer

Ken Saruhashi, Dancer

Alison McWhinney, Dancer

Anjuli Hudson, Dancer

Julia Conway, Dancer

Carolyne Galvao, Dancer

Katja Khaniukova, Dancer

Fabian Reimair, Dancer

Emily Suzuki, Dancer

Victor Prigent, Dancer

Natascha Mair, Dancer

Isaac Hernández, Dancer

Rhys Antoni Yeomans, Dancer

Philadelphia Ballet’s The Merry Widow: a Belle Époque dream

Leigh Donlan, 5th March

The Philadelphia Ballet transported audiences back to Belle Époque Paris with The Merry Widow, set to Franz Lehár’s beloved score (adapted by John Lanchbery) and Ronald Hynd’s spectacular choreography.

****1

ENBS Summer Performance highlights versatility and technical skill

Maggie Foyer, 11th July

English National Ballet School presented a full summer programme with excerpts from traditional ballets and new works showing the technical proficiency of the students as they aim for jobs in the profession.

****1

Hungarian National Ballet: a tremendously witty Merry Widow

Deborah Weiss, 12th February

Hungarian National Ballet strike a delightful balance between lighthearted comedy and technical assurance in Ronald Hynd's The Merry Widow.

****1

Czech National Ballet shine in Ronald Hynd's Coppélia

Maggie Foyer, 16th May

Czech National Ballet are well suited to Ronald Hynd's delightful production of Coppélia.

****1

La Scala's home-made tribute celebrates Carla Fracci's legacy

Silvia Poletti, 9th April

The first Fracci Gala at the Teatro alla Scala celebrates the memory and the stature of a child of the house, who not always considered so in life.

***11

Australian Ballet is back with a bang in its Celebration Gala!

Chantal Nguyen, 25th November

After two years of pandemic disruptions, the Australian Ballet celebrates its return to the stage with this gala of impressively-chosen showstopper pas de deux.

****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.

Solstice: English National Ballet closes its season with a midsummer gala