Northern Ballet's The Great Gatsby unfolds at breakneck pace

Joseph Taylor and Sean Bates in David Nixon's The Great Gatsby

Dominique Larose and Joseph Taylor in David Nixon's The Great Gatsby

By Graham Watts, 19 May 2023

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“a dance of exceptional grief, with hyper-flexible, arched-back expressionism and superbly performed”

Reviewed at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London on 16 May 2023

The Great Gatsby (orch. by John Longstaff and Gavin Sutherland) (David Nixon)

Northern Ballet

Jonathan Lo, Conductor

David Nixon, Director, Costume Designer

Jérôme Kaplan, Set Designer

Tim Mitchell, Lighting Designer

Northern Ballet Sinfonia

Dominique Larose, Dancer

George Liang, Dancer

Gavin McCaig, Dancer

Sean Bates, Dancer

Heather Lehan, Dancer

Helen Bogatch, Dancer

The Nutcracker is a hit with the audience in Leeds

Viki Westall, 5th January

A farcical, entertaining Mouse King limbers up atop his cheese!

****1

Narrative knots entangle Northern Ballet's Dangerous Liaisons

Graham Watts, 8th June

A ballet that has been reduced in substance but is still weighed down by complexity.

**111

Northern Ballet at 50: a gala celebration in Leeds

Graham Watts, 4th January

Northern Ballet reaches its half-century with a gala at Leeds Grand Theatre featuring highlights from its "greatest hits".

***11

Nixon's Little Mermaid is a Masterpiece

Kirsty Morgan, 22nd March

A fantastic score, wonderful costumes, brilliant dancing and stunning choreography coalesce beautifully in David Nixon’s magical The Little Mermaid for Northern Ballet.

*****

A magical Midsummer Night's Dream from Northern Ballet

Margaret Willis, 28th September

The lady at the bus stop announced that she had just been to the ballet, and commented: “I didn’t really understand it but I loved it”. The ballet was A Midsummer Night’s Dream, performed by Northern Ballet, and yes, it was somewhat confusing, though highly enjoyable and very funny.

****1

Northern Ballet's The Great Gatsby at Sadler's Wells

Hanna Weibye, 14th May

Goodness, Northern Ballet are an appealing company. Their dancers are cheerful, charismatic and talented; their ethos one of hard work and unflagging dedication to outreach, bringing the delights of ballet to as wide an audience as possible across their mostly northern catchment area. A new full-length story ballet based on F.

***11

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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.