Morphoses @ Sadler's Wells

The evening started very well when, at the Lilian Baylis cafe (near Sadler's Wells), there were a lot of people and I had to sit down right opposite... Christopher Wheeldon, choreographer and artistic director of Morphoses :-) I heavily eaves-dropped on his conversation with an important man in a suit (they were talking programming and new creations) and asked him to autograph my tickets.

I then found out that the great black ballerina Aesha Ash wasn't with the company this year, but would be back next year, which is alright I guess... Come back to London Aesha, please!

Overall, Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company brought an evening of great dance. Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon's Fool's Paradise is just a wonderful piece of modern ballet - I really recommend you see it (a short clip below)

There was a world premiere by a Canadian choreographer. It had some great movement, but the music was just too repetitive (it was by Steve Reich) to bring out any emotions, I felt. No accelerations, no real accents, no slowing down - the same basic rythm all the time. I found it pretty hard-going after a while.

The night also included a new Wheeldon ballet called Commedia. More light-hearted and fun, it was really good.

Poum

Being away from France, I didnt follow very much the Cecilia-Nicolas Sarkozy break-up, so I am quite happy the Guardian has written a long piece about it!

Also on the Guardian's website, a podcast from the current Tate Modern exhibition of Louise Bourgeois' work. Everyone loved it, except me and my friend Nicolas. We totally failed to be moved by what we saw. We didn't even find it ugly or awful, we just found it unimpressive. Either we are not educated enough or are pointing the lack of clothes on the Emperor, though that would be too good. I have to say she still looks chirpy for her age (95). I have just read that she is the last Surrealist to be alive, so I might go back and look at the show from that angle, and maybe I will understand what she is trying to do.

Christopher Wheeldon's dance company Morphoses debuted in New York, and the great Aesha Ash was spotted by the New York Times: "Ms. Ash stood out for the resonance and power of her dancing in William Forsythe's “Slingerland Pas de Deux". You go girl! Here is a pic of her dancing with Trevor Nunn and William Trevitt (aka The Ballet Boyz) in a new ballet, "Mesmerics".