Bahok - akram khan company - The Lowry - February ***
It was pretty good ... but somehow I expected more. Review
Scattered - Motionhouse - The Lowry - February *****
I loved it so much I bought the CD. A technical tour de force - a thrilling, energetic, highly physical piece of dance theatre delivered with quiet strength, skill and flair by an appealling group of performers.
Still Breathing - 2Faced Dance Company - Contact Theatre - February *****
Dark, physical, sexy blend of street and contemporary proving without a doubt that men dancing can be completely masculine. Review
Swan Lake - Matthew Bourne's New Adventures - The Lowry - March *****
It's a bona fide dance juggernaut with good reason. Beautiful, stylish and groundbreaking with a powerful emotional hit. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Review
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The Dreadful Hours - Tmesis Theatre - Royal Exchange Studio - March *****
Imaginative, funny and dark piece of physical theatre mixed with drama from two talented and appealling performers. Another winner from Tmesis Theatre's Elinor Randle and Yorgos Karamalegos.
Ballet Boyz present... The Talent - The Lowry - March ****
Two pieces out of three worked for me, making The Talent a promising new start for the original Balletboyz as they seemingly wind up their own performing careers. Review
The Life and Times of Girl A / NQR (Not Quite Right) - Scottish Dance Theatre - The Lowry - March ****
Possibly not entirely to my personal taste however these two pieces by SDT managed to be full of interesting sound and movement. The Life and Times of Girl A was especially powerful with its fractured narrative and interesting use of multimedia making a real emotional connection. NQR was more challenging, confronting different perceptions of difference from the social to the highly physical with some really creative choreographed movement and the intergration of disabled - genuinely differently-abled - dancers (and a cellist). SDT negotiated that fine line between physical theatre and contemporary dance with skill.
Los Vivancos - 7 Hermanos - The Lowry - March */***
Seven mostly talented dancers trapped in a frankly dreadful production - but maybe that's flamenco... Oddly entertaining for the most part whilst still sitting there wanting to change everything about the show from the largely awful music, the hideous lighting, the awful costumes, to the excessive posturing, the uncomfortable comedic interludes... shall I go on? They were at their best when doing ballet, street and other styles and when their rather wonderful singer took centre stage and they went off... Could have been fantastic. Wasn't. Oddly unsexy too, despite seven toned, mostly handsome, shirtless Spanish men dancing. Still got a standing ovation mind.
The Sleeping Beauty - Birmingham Royal Ballet - The Lowry - March *****
Traditional full-length narrative ballet doesn't come much better than this. BRB's The Sleeping Beauty was splendidly lavish, extravagant, sumptuous and as magical as you could wish. Featuring a massive cast, this ballet sparkled with some beautiful performances and, even draped with so much gold brocade, this stunning production still managed to be fresh and lively. Completely lovely.
KINESTECH - Dancing across Media - The Dancehouse - April **
Supposedly technically ambitious, Bridget Fiske's Red Rain - the interactive video element was decidedly unimpressive - and Melanie Clarke's Both of View were largely uninteresting.
Dance 3 [a triple bill] - feat. Freddie Opoku-Addaie + Ben Wright/BGROUP + Tanja Råman & DBINI Industries - greenroom - April *****
Three different and effective dance pieces - Dance 3 is a welcome touring concept. I only wish the other two programmes had come to Manchester. Hope we see its return next year. Review
Cinderella - English National Ballet - Palace Theatre - April ****
Would have been five stars had it not been for an unfortunate technical howler at the start of Act III and a rather lacklustre Prince. Otherwise a thoroughly entertaining production. Elena Glurdjidze was a charming, elegant and vulnerable Cinderella; Adela Ramirez and Sarah McIlroy were superbly expressive stepsisters and Kerry Birkett made an enchanting Fairy Godmother. And the orchestra sounded superb from where I was sitting.
Extra-Ordinary - David Toole & Lucy Hind - The Lowry - April ***
More comedy than dance - and my first review for the The Public Reviews. Read my review at The Public Reviews
A Chorus Line - The Lowry - May ****
A very effective production of one of the great masterpieces of musical theatre. The sound started a little tinny but this is a show without a bad song and a consistently strong ensemble carried it through to a warm and emotional end.
Rojo Tango - Faena Hotel & Universe, Buenos Aires - May *****
Beautiful and glamorous tango cabaret telling the story of tango through the years in a heady blur of equisite costumes, five talented tango couples, two singers, a superb live tango orchestra, with dinner and champagne included - in a stunning Philippe Starck-designed five-star hotel in Buenos Aires' newly developing Puerta Madera docklands area. Tango heaven in a heavenly city.
Entity - Wayne McGregor | Random Dance - Liverpool Playhouse - May *****
An unforgettable performance that completely satisfied everything that I love about watching dance. Compelling, innovative, connective, emotional, genius. Review
Jaleo Flamenco - The Lowry - June ****
Flamenco can be formulaic but this company make such good use of the key elements – storytelling, drama and improvisation – and do it with such skill, passion, charisma and conviction that they draw you in to their world, make you understand it and tell you tales that hold your interest and feed your soul. Read my review at The Public Reviews
Romeo and Juliet - Birmingham Royal Ballet - The Lowry - June *****
This production of Romeo and Juliet is as good a narrative ballet as you are likely to see. The production is lavish, the company excellent and the familiar story still retains drama and tension and the power to move. Read my review at The Public Reviews
Love and War - Mark Bruce Company - Royal Exchange Studio - July ****
Glad I didn't have to write a proper review of this show as I'm not sure how much I actually understood of it. Very different and varied show using classically-based moves distorted into something quite different, set to a mixed bag of American alternative rock, alt-country and modern classical. Parts of this show were fantastically thrilling - notably the Nirvana-set cheerleader/dogs of war section and the spider sequence. A talented and varied cast in character made for a distinctive 70 minutes.
Meter - Ad Hoc Dance - The Lowry Studio - July **
Urban Moves Festival 2010 - 23-25 July - Methods of Dance 2010 the review
Hugely varied selection of different international dance companies (and Manchester's own Company Chameleon) performing in several open spaces within the city centre in indifferent weather. Saw some splendid work.
Declarations - Phoenix Dance Theatre - Liverpool Playhouse - September *****
I was reminded in all good ways of my long-lamented New English Contemporary Dance Company. Phoenix presented a completely contemporary set of four works rooted in fantastic classical technique to a mix of classical and contemporary music - much as NECB did - and it was completely the kind of dance I love. Read my review here
Awakenings + Hush + RainForest - Rambert Dance Company - The Lowry - September ***
Once again I was hugely disappointed by the Rambert, although it was great to see some Merce Cunningham presented with its original staging. Even Aletta Collins marvellous choreograhic skills couldn't rescue Awakenings from the Rambert 'problem' - either do narrative ballet in a contemporary style or do contemporary dance. The Rambert do neither, and it's very frustrating! Read my review for The Public Reviews here
This Is Now - New Art Club - Royal Exchange Studio - September ****
I'm not fan of stand-up so the prospect of comedy dance was an intriguing one. New Art Club have a good reputation and from this showing it's well deserved. Very funny and hugely likeable, this was an hour well-spent. Read my review for The Public Reviews here
Blaze - The Lowry - October ****
It's good street dance with state of the art visuals and production values, but it's still street dance. Read my review at The Public Reviews here
Political Mother - Hofesh Shechter Company - Sheffield Lyceum - October *****
Five stars is not enough. Read my review (reaction more like) here. My highlight of the year.
Tango Pasión - Último Tango - Bridgewater Hall - October ****
The Bridgewater Hall is about as far from the kind of venue that would suit this show best - Buenos Aires it is not - but the quality of this show and the performances are strong enough that this was a good night's entertainment with some stunning tango moves.
Edits - The Featherstonehaughs - greenroom - October **
Overlong, sometimes appealing but generally repetitive and eventually grindingly dull performance by the all-male Featherstonehaughs in a selection of frocks and wigs, completely killed by a soundtrack largely free of any music. Technically quite impressive but so lacking in any kind of narrative or coherent structure that it is an endless loop of sameness that stretches quite an interesting idea beyond breaking point. Would have been an enjoyable twenty minute piece.
Pleasure's Progress - ROH2 - The Lowry - October *****
Stunning show created by the Royal Ballet's Will Tuckett, based on the drawings of William Hogarth depicting London life in the 1730s, and drawing from musical theatre, drama, opera and ballet. The cast and musicians were superb, the staging lavish and highly effective. The Lowry Studio has never looked better. Funny, atmospheric and moving, I loved it.
BOH - Sanpapié - The Lowry - November ***
Performed with great style, wit, conviction and versatility, BOH manages to be varied, interesting, funny, touching and thought provoking. The only thing this show seriously lacked was an audience. The Lowry Studio was tragically empty. Read my review for The Public Reviews here
Blood, Sweat & Tears - ballet LORENT - The Lowry - November **
I found Blood, Sweat & Tears hard to enjoy. Sometimes very literal, at other times almost baffling, the production seems sentimental and over-reliant on props to express things that dance should be able to without piles of dolls and bed clothes and pillows and furniture ... Although I admire the company’s dancers – the choreography is often light and fluid and especially full of beautiful lifts, and I enjoyed the interplay of mixed and same sex groups and duets – they did not seem especially physically stretched in this production. Read my review for The Public Reviews here
The Nutcracker - Northern Ballet - Palace Theatre - November *****
All in all, this production of The Nutcracker is a Christmas treat. The wafer-thin story doesn’t matter as the show is bright with the spirit of Christmas; the music is fabulous; and the soloists and ensemble cast of the Northern Ballet are full of skill and charm and personality. It may be a Christmas cliché but the Northern Ballet’s Nutcracker is a real Christmas treat full of warmth and wit and genuine sentiment. Read my review for The Public Reviews here
Cinderella - Matthew Bourne's New Adventures - The Lowry - November *****
Absolutely stunning show with state of the art production values and a fantastic World War 2 London Blitz setting, however the story somehow strays too far away from Cinderella. Cinderella is slightly geeky and ovewhelmed by her large stepfamily; the prince is a crashed RAF pilot in limbo between this world and the next. The ball is a night at the Cafe de Paris (on the night it was bombed) and may all have been a dream anyway. The most effective moments for me (apart from the general spectacle, special effects and superb sound) were the low-key gay subplot featuring a romance between Cinderella's stepbrother and an US airman. The dancing was more plentiful and balletic than some of Bourne's shows but for all their appeal and acting skill New Adventure's dancers never seem to be technically quite first class. I loved this Cinderella as a show but I didn't love it - it was fantastic entertainment but the central romance failed to move. She even made up with the ugly sisters.
A Super Modern Dance And Other Romances - Pavlos Kountouriotis - greenroom November */***
Quite one of the oddest shows I have ever seen. It was either genius or shambolic rubbish but Pav Kountouriotis is a man so overabundant with charm and likeability that the greenroom audience (including myself) bought it. I even sang along and waved my (supplied) glowstick at the appropriate moment. The singing was variable, the climbing rig completely failed (he used a ladder instead), the nudity was gratuitous but fun, there was little actual dancing and I didn't really get the idea, but I was entertained. (Since writing this review I have considered my knowledge and expectations as an audience member and thsi I may have misread much of this show. My problem.)
2010 Highlights: Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, 2Faced Dance Company, Birmingham Royal Ballet's The Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet, Wayne McGregor | Random Dance, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Hofesh Shechter Company, ROH2's Pleasure's Progress, North Ballet's The Nutcracker, Tango (generally), becoming a reviewer for The Public Reviews
2010 Disappointments: Rambert Dance Company (again), balletLORENT, The Featherstonehaughs, missing the English National Ballet's production of Romeo & Juliet![]()
It was pretty good ... but somehow I expected more. Review
Scattered - Motionhouse - The Lowry - February *****
I loved it so much I bought the CD. A technical tour de force - a thrilling, energetic, highly physical piece of dance theatre delivered with quiet strength, skill and flair by an appealling group of performers.
Still Breathing - 2Faced Dance Company - Contact Theatre - February *****
Dark, physical, sexy blend of street and contemporary proving without a doubt that men dancing can be completely masculine. Review
 |
| 2Faced Dance Company - Still Breathing |
It's a bona fide dance juggernaut with good reason. Beautiful, stylish and groundbreaking with a powerful emotional hit. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Review
The Dreadful Hours - Tmesis Theatre - Royal Exchange Studio - March *****
Imaginative, funny and dark piece of physical theatre mixed with drama from two talented and appealling performers. Another winner from Tmesis Theatre's Elinor Randle and Yorgos Karamalegos.
Ballet Boyz present... The Talent - The Lowry - March ****
Two pieces out of three worked for me, making The Talent a promising new start for the original Balletboyz as they seemingly wind up their own performing careers. Review
The Life and Times of Girl A / NQR (Not Quite Right) - Scottish Dance Theatre - The Lowry - March ****
Possibly not entirely to my personal taste however these two pieces by SDT managed to be full of interesting sound and movement. The Life and Times of Girl A was especially powerful with its fractured narrative and interesting use of multimedia making a real emotional connection. NQR was more challenging, confronting different perceptions of difference from the social to the highly physical with some really creative choreographed movement and the intergration of disabled - genuinely differently-abled - dancers (and a cellist). SDT negotiated that fine line between physical theatre and contemporary dance with skill.
Los Vivancos - 7 Hermanos - The Lowry - March */***
Seven mostly talented dancers trapped in a frankly dreadful production - but maybe that's flamenco... Oddly entertaining for the most part whilst still sitting there wanting to change everything about the show from the largely awful music, the hideous lighting, the awful costumes, to the excessive posturing, the uncomfortable comedic interludes... shall I go on? They were at their best when doing ballet, street and other styles and when their rather wonderful singer took centre stage and they went off... Could have been fantastic. Wasn't. Oddly unsexy too, despite seven toned, mostly handsome, shirtless Spanish men dancing. Still got a standing ovation mind.
The Sleeping Beauty - Birmingham Royal Ballet - The Lowry - March *****
Traditional full-length narrative ballet doesn't come much better than this. BRB's The Sleeping Beauty was splendidly lavish, extravagant, sumptuous and as magical as you could wish. Featuring a massive cast, this ballet sparkled with some beautiful performances and, even draped with so much gold brocade, this stunning production still managed to be fresh and lively. Completely lovely.
KINESTECH - Dancing across Media - The Dancehouse - April **
Supposedly technically ambitious, Bridget Fiske's Red Rain - the interactive video element was decidedly unimpressive - and Melanie Clarke's Both of View were largely uninteresting.
Dance 3 [a triple bill] - feat. Freddie Opoku-Addaie + Ben Wright/BGROUP + Tanja Råman & DBINI Industries - greenroom - April *****
Three different and effective dance pieces - Dance 3 is a welcome touring concept. I only wish the other two programmes had come to Manchester. Hope we see its return next year. Review
Cinderella - English National Ballet - Palace Theatre - April ****
Would have been five stars had it not been for an unfortunate technical howler at the start of Act III and a rather lacklustre Prince. Otherwise a thoroughly entertaining production. Elena Glurdjidze was a charming, elegant and vulnerable Cinderella; Adela Ramirez and Sarah McIlroy were superbly expressive stepsisters and Kerry Birkett made an enchanting Fairy Godmother. And the orchestra sounded superb from where I was sitting.
Extra-Ordinary - David Toole & Lucy Hind - The Lowry - April ***
More comedy than dance - and my first review for the The Public Reviews. Read my review at The Public Reviews
A Chorus Line - The Lowry - May ****
A very effective production of one of the great masterpieces of musical theatre. The sound started a little tinny but this is a show without a bad song and a consistently strong ensemble carried it through to a warm and emotional end.
Rojo Tango - Faena Hotel & Universe, Buenos Aires - May *****
Beautiful and glamorous tango cabaret telling the story of tango through the years in a heady blur of equisite costumes, five talented tango couples, two singers, a superb live tango orchestra, with dinner and champagne included - in a stunning Philippe Starck-designed five-star hotel in Buenos Aires' newly developing Puerta Madera docklands area. Tango heaven in a heavenly city.
Entity - Wayne McGregor | Random Dance - Liverpool Playhouse - May *****
An unforgettable performance that completely satisfied everything that I love about watching dance. Compelling, innovative, connective, emotional, genius. Review
Jaleo Flamenco - The Lowry - June ****
Flamenco can be formulaic but this company make such good use of the key elements – storytelling, drama and improvisation – and do it with such skill, passion, charisma and conviction that they draw you in to their world, make you understand it and tell you tales that hold your interest and feed your soul. Read my review at The Public Reviews
Romeo and Juliet - Birmingham Royal Ballet - The Lowry - June *****
This production of Romeo and Juliet is as good a narrative ballet as you are likely to see. The production is lavish, the company excellent and the familiar story still retains drama and tension and the power to move. Read my review at The Public Reviews
Love and War - Mark Bruce Company - Royal Exchange Studio - July ****
Glad I didn't have to write a proper review of this show as I'm not sure how much I actually understood of it. Very different and varied show using classically-based moves distorted into something quite different, set to a mixed bag of American alternative rock, alt-country and modern classical. Parts of this show were fantastically thrilling - notably the Nirvana-set cheerleader/dogs of war section and the spider sequence. A talented and varied cast in character made for a distinctive 70 minutes.
Meter - Ad Hoc Dance - The Lowry Studio - July **
Urban Moves Festival 2010 - 23-25 July - Methods of Dance 2010 the review
Hugely varied selection of different international dance companies (and Manchester's own Company Chameleon) performing in several open spaces within the city centre in indifferent weather. Saw some splendid work.
Declarations - Phoenix Dance Theatre - Liverpool Playhouse - September *****
I was reminded in all good ways of my long-lamented New English Contemporary Dance Company. Phoenix presented a completely contemporary set of four works rooted in fantastic classical technique to a mix of classical and contemporary music - much as NECB did - and it was completely the kind of dance I love. Read my review here
 |
| Phoenix Dance Theatre: Azzura Ardovini, Phil Sanger and Josh Wille in Locked in Vertical |
Once again I was hugely disappointed by the Rambert, although it was great to see some Merce Cunningham presented with its original staging. Even Aletta Collins marvellous choreograhic skills couldn't rescue Awakenings from the Rambert 'problem' - either do narrative ballet in a contemporary style or do contemporary dance. The Rambert do neither, and it's very frustrating! Read my review for The Public Reviews here
This Is Now - New Art Club - Royal Exchange Studio - September ****
I'm not fan of stand-up so the prospect of comedy dance was an intriguing one. New Art Club have a good reputation and from this showing it's well deserved. Very funny and hugely likeable, this was an hour well-spent. Read my review for The Public Reviews here
Blaze - The Lowry - October ****
It's good street dance with state of the art visuals and production values, but it's still street dance. Read my review at The Public Reviews here
Political Mother - Hofesh Shechter Company - Sheffield Lyceum - October *****
Five stars is not enough. Read my review (reaction more like) here. My highlight of the year.
 |
| Hofesh Shechter Company - Political Mother |
The Bridgewater Hall is about as far from the kind of venue that would suit this show best - Buenos Aires it is not - but the quality of this show and the performances are strong enough that this was a good night's entertainment with some stunning tango moves.
Edits - The Featherstonehaughs - greenroom - October **
Overlong, sometimes appealing but generally repetitive and eventually grindingly dull performance by the all-male Featherstonehaughs in a selection of frocks and wigs, completely killed by a soundtrack largely free of any music. Technically quite impressive but so lacking in any kind of narrative or coherent structure that it is an endless loop of sameness that stretches quite an interesting idea beyond breaking point. Would have been an enjoyable twenty minute piece.
Pleasure's Progress - ROH2 - The Lowry - October *****
Stunning show created by the Royal Ballet's Will Tuckett, based on the drawings of William Hogarth depicting London life in the 1730s, and drawing from musical theatre, drama, opera and ballet. The cast and musicians were superb, the staging lavish and highly effective. The Lowry Studio has never looked better. Funny, atmospheric and moving, I loved it.
BOH - Sanpapié - The Lowry - November ***
Performed with great style, wit, conviction and versatility, BOH manages to be varied, interesting, funny, touching and thought provoking. The only thing this show seriously lacked was an audience. The Lowry Studio was tragically empty. Read my review for The Public Reviews here
Blood, Sweat & Tears - ballet LORENT - The Lowry - November **
I found Blood, Sweat & Tears hard to enjoy. Sometimes very literal, at other times almost baffling, the production seems sentimental and over-reliant on props to express things that dance should be able to without piles of dolls and bed clothes and pillows and furniture ... Although I admire the company’s dancers – the choreography is often light and fluid and especially full of beautiful lifts, and I enjoyed the interplay of mixed and same sex groups and duets – they did not seem especially physically stretched in this production. Read my review for The Public Reviews here
The Nutcracker - Northern Ballet - Palace Theatre - November *****
All in all, this production of The Nutcracker is a Christmas treat. The wafer-thin story doesn’t matter as the show is bright with the spirit of Christmas; the music is fabulous; and the soloists and ensemble cast of the Northern Ballet are full of skill and charm and personality. It may be a Christmas cliché but the Northern Ballet’s Nutcracker is a real Christmas treat full of warmth and wit and genuine sentiment. Read my review for The Public Reviews here
Cinderella - Matthew Bourne's New Adventures - The Lowry - November *****
Absolutely stunning show with state of the art production values and a fantastic World War 2 London Blitz setting, however the story somehow strays too far away from Cinderella. Cinderella is slightly geeky and ovewhelmed by her large stepfamily; the prince is a crashed RAF pilot in limbo between this world and the next. The ball is a night at the Cafe de Paris (on the night it was bombed) and may all have been a dream anyway. The most effective moments for me (apart from the general spectacle, special effects and superb sound) were the low-key gay subplot featuring a romance between Cinderella's stepbrother and an US airman. The dancing was more plentiful and balletic than some of Bourne's shows but for all their appeal and acting skill New Adventure's dancers never seem to be technically quite first class. I loved this Cinderella as a show but I didn't love it - it was fantastic entertainment but the central romance failed to move. She even made up with the ugly sisters.
A Super Modern Dance And Other Romances - Pavlos Kountouriotis - greenroom November */***
Quite one of the oddest shows I have ever seen. It was either genius or shambolic rubbish but Pav Kountouriotis is a man so overabundant with charm and likeability that the greenroom audience (including myself) bought it. I even sang along and waved my (supplied) glowstick at the appropriate moment. The singing was variable, the climbing rig completely failed (he used a ladder instead), the nudity was gratuitous but fun, there was little actual dancing and I didn't really get the idea, but I was entertained. (Since writing this review I have considered my knowledge and expectations as an audience member and thsi I may have misread much of this show. My problem.)
2010 Highlights: Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, 2Faced Dance Company, Birmingham Royal Ballet's The Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet, Wayne McGregor | Random Dance, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Hofesh Shechter Company, ROH2's Pleasure's Progress, North Ballet's The Nutcracker, Tango (generally), becoming a reviewer for The Public Reviews
2010 Disappointments: Rambert Dance Company (again), balletLORENT, The Featherstonehaughs, missing the English National Ballet's production of Romeo & Juliet
