Hidden Figures - review

This is a review for the book by Margot Lee Shetterly that the recent film is based on.

What do you do when you have to wait 4h for your delayed flight? You go to WH Smith, of course! This book wasn't in their top 20 Business Bestsellers - but really it should have been. All the things that can be achieved with dedication, grace, talent and intelligence! Inspiring stuff.

A post shared by b (@benjaminlalala) on Feb 27, 2017 at 1:09pm PST

But wait it's about more than those personal stories. There weren't just 3 black women working for NACA/NASA. There were hundreds. There were hundreds of bright women (of all races) who joined because all the men had left to war, basically. That was their break into their amazing careers (digression: interesting to think what would have happened for women's working life had WWII not occurred!)

Book: Widow Basquiat

A major exhibition of works by Jean-Michel Basquiat is coming to London later this year (at the Barbican), and I thought I ought to learn more about this artist, because frankly I knew very little beyond the Andy Warhol association and tragic death.

In a bookstore, my eyes stopped on this memoir and, reading its jacket, I thought, who best to learn about Basquiat than from his muse (and on-and-off girlfriend), Suzanne Mallouk? The book is a mix of Suzanne's stories (told by herself), and writer Jennifer Clements's poetic prose, and is an incredible insight into the life of Basquiat, into the club scene and art world of 1980s NYC, and into his paintings.

The below are highlights, written in Jennifer Clements's style. This is a great book - art history, really, told beautifully.

Lord of the Dance: vom vom vom

In life, what I like best is finding myself in a situation I would not have anticipated at all only a few weeks before, doing something not ordinary or that I thought I would never do.

This week, such a moment took place. I went to see Lord of the Dance at the Playhouse Theatre in the West End. People look to me for good shows, so all of them were very surprised when I told them I was going. It's a long story, but basically I befriended one of the performers and wanted to see him/her in action. His/her backstory was fascinating, s/he was living her/his dream on that stage, so I thought it was pretty cool.

Plus I found £10 tickets.

And I knew that, on some levels, the show would be terrible, so bad it would be hilarious. So the idea of being a bit drunk in the final row of the balcony (so steep! I had a bit of a headache at the beginning) watching my friend dance really appealed.

Now, my friend was great - all the dancing cast was great. So much talent on that stage, light leaps, heavy and amazingly fast footwork from the dancers, and also a really strong female singer. Sadly they were all lumbered with the least tasteful production I've ever seen on stage.

I can only list the affronts to beauty, which had me gasping throughout:

Flamenco Gala @ Sadler's Wells - review

I wasn't really planning to write a review for this, but I got a bit excited about this show commenting on Webcowgirl's review of it, so I thought I should write one after all.

The Flamenco Gala is always one my highlights of the annual Flamenco Festival: three great dancers sharing the stage, all for the price of one ticket? I'm in!

This year's gala probably didn't have as many wow moments as the previous ones, but I still really enjoyed it, with a line-up showcasing the different flamenco perspectives of Rafaela Carrasco, Olga Pericet and Carmen Cortes. Just a few notes on each of them...

Manuela Carrasco @ Sadler's Wells review

Yesterday I joined a few of my flamenco class friends to go to see dancer Manuela Carrasco's show at Sadler's Wells, as part of ther annual Flamenco Festival.

A few things about her show, Suspiro Flamenco, left me perplexed (mainly the almost random lighting) and I would have liked to see a little bit more of both her and her fantastic male dancers. But overall, it was a good evening of very pure flamenco.

Gala Flamenca - Todo Cambia @ Sadler's Wells

Just a quick review of the Gala Flamenca, which closed the Sadler's Wells Flamenco Festival last week. I didn't go to any other shows this year as I was a bit underwhelmed with the line-up: Eva Yerbabuena, Rafaela Carrasco, Maria Pages - they're all great artists, yes, but they were all in the festival last year or the year before, and I want to see new faces. (Nuevo Ballet Espanol is not my cup of tea)

So for the new faces I went to the Gala, where three women (Rocio Molina, Belen Lopez and Pastora Galvan) and one man, Manuel Linan, shared the stage and toyed with their tradition.

Rocio Molina opened the show - I loved her in Mujeres, and she is becoming renowned for really looking into flamenco. Coming in wearing a small leather skirt and boots, she tells you straight away that she is here to play with tradition and your expectations of what flamenco can be. She doesn't hide behind big dresses, but at the same time the footwork and the postures are there: she is a great dancer, and there's a particular kick of the shoulder that I really enjoyed. She ends her performance dancing in a small rectangular wooden box, using the sides to increase the sound and possibilities of her footwork, building on the rule that a good flamenco dancer can dance in a really tiny space.

Belen Lopez followed with astounding footwork. She looked very masculine in a white suit (high waisted trousers and jacket), even her arms and hands were that of a man (she didn't use her fingers when turning her hands for example) When she reappeared at the end in a tightly fitted dress and with castanets, I didn't recognise her.

Manuel Linan was also very good. I wasn't sure about him at first, what with the walking stick and all that, but he won me over by the end of his performance.

Finally, Pastora Galvan closed the show. She is the sister of bailaor Israel Galvan, and she went closest to traditional flamenco. Her face was so expressive and intense, it really felt like she had a story to tell us. When she walked backwards in a circle, biting her fist, it made me think of a flamenco version of Giselle's crazy/death scene. She had a great connection with the musicians and singers - it seemed to me like they shouted the most for her. 'Baila Pastoraaaaa'

So it was a great night of flamenco dancing, and I wouldn't mind seeing any of those performers... in next year's festival maybe?

Here is a video of Belen Lopez - what a zapateado!

And here is Pastora Galvan, in a more contemporary style than what I saw. Very influenced by her brother!

Ivana Muller @ Lilian Baylis Studio - review

'In theatre you never know what is going to happen next. Except that there will always be a bow at the end.'

For just over an hour, the six performers in Ivana Muller's Playing Ensemble Again and Again take a bow. The show starts with the end of recorded piece of classical music, and the roar of clapping from an appreciative audience. Moving in slow motion, the performers come out from behind a curtain at the back of the stage: their performance is over, and they are now taking what is theirs - the appreciation, gratitude and support of the audience. They all come out, stand on a straight line, and bow, before going through what we all expect happens in those occasions: they walk down the stage, bow again, hold hands, take a step forward one at a time, the lead performers are singled out, they raise their hands to the back of the auditorium to thank the technical staff etc...

All this happens in slow motion, with the performers speaking their thoughts, making the show funny, touching or insightful. The humour often came from the juxtaposition of the slow movement with their thoughts: as they are all smiling and clapping, they would say 'There was a lot of blood on stage tonight. There even was a real rape', or one bitter performer would look at the lead and say 'Tonight is the first time I am not the lead', suddenly charging his smile with falsehood we hadn't noticed before.

There was also humour in some of the stories themselves: 'Sometimes I dream that I go to the supermarket the morning after a performance, and I get a standing ovation there'.

And there were in-jokes about the theatre/performance world:

- We do not have a costumer designer.
- We were only assigned colours.
- That's why we look like we have just come out of H&M.
- But I like to think that someone in the audience has the same yellow top.

- After the show we have talked to programmers, directors, audience members.
- But mostly it's just the six of us in a corner with no one talking to us.

- To perform here, we have received money from the national fund, the regional fund, the European fund, the theatre fund, the dance fund.
- And tonight you are 178 in the audience and together you have paid £2200
(they all bow)

There were also touching moments (eg: 'Tonight we all had two tickets for the show. I didn't have anyone to invite') and everytime the performers leave the stage and return for another bow, they have aged (though not physically). One of them would say 'We are between 20 and 34 years old', then 'we are between 42 and 50 years old' and finally 'we are between 60 and 80 years old'. So their thoughts would change slightly.

As you can see, I am going on a bit, which is a sign that I really enjoyed this performance. Maybe some characters were not defined enough compared to others though (the former lead with a high self-esteem was great, but it was hard to see what the other characters were so clearly), but this is a very minor issue. I found it funny, moving and very engaging and easy to get into.

Playing Ensemble Again and Again, with its pace and text and with the way it presents something not seen normally (the actual thoughts of a performer/dancer) , reminded me of Jerome Bel's Veronique Doisneau. And it made me think that someone should mix the two: Ivana Muller should create a Playing Ensemble Again and Again with ballet dancers, in a big opera/ballet house. There is so much ceremony to bowing in ballet, what with the flowers, curtain calls etc etc. I think it would be touching, irreverent and funny to have it in slow motion, with the thoughts of the ballet dancers spoken out loud. Imagine having a whole ballet company doing it - all the hierarchy, the history of the place, the stories behind those great performers... I think that would be awesome!

'When the lights go out, you will not see us anymore'.

Jiri Kylian & Michael Schumacher - Last Touch First

When you leave several shows in a row a bit disappointed , telling your friend 'I mean it was good, but something was missing', you start thinking you'd be better off saving your money for something else next season (a new coat?)

But then you see great shows, pieces that are good from beginning to end, dances that kind of blow your mind or bring you to tears, and you feel so grateful. I've had three great dance evenings in the space of a month: Rosas danst Rosas, Lotte Van Den Berg and now Jiri Kylian.

I had never seen any Jiri Kylian pieces before, so I didn't know what to expect, apart from the fact that it had to be good, and the expectation rose when I saw how busy The Place was. Last Touch First is choreographed by Kylian and Michael Schumacher.

As we take our seats, the six performers (3 men, 3 women) are already on stage, in position. The stage is covered in strong beige fabric. 1 woman is reading in a rocking chair and another in a tub chair, the other woman is standing by a table with a candle on it. Two men are sitting by a window, playing cards, while another is standing at the door, looking at the woman in the rocking chair.

As the piano music begins, they start moving, but very slowly. They even blink in slow motion. The guys play cards, the woman licks her finger to turn the page of her book. Some things are odd: the woman by the table pulls at the table cloth, sliding the candle from one side to the other, the woman on the tub chair pours herself a drink, and becomes quite drunk. The man at the door surprises the girl in the rocking chair and she avoids his kiss, turning her face away from his.

There is some terrible sadness in them, a longing of some kind... they all look somewhat bored, waiting for something. Kylian and Schumacher mention Chekhov in the programme notes, and this is definitely the feeling I got away from reading Chekhov: the characters are bored out of their heads and think they have missed on what life had to offer. I really responded to that emotion.

Behind the decorum and appearances, they're actually all a bit crazy: in the second half of the piece, the table is turned upside down, a woman is lifted above the door, they play with a mirror (creating a great lighting effect), and there are flashes of fast movement. They are many great duets, with many poses that look difficult to hold, but the dancers make it all flow beautifully.

At the end, the drunk woman walks slowly towards the door, the fabric being pulled from under her feet by the 5 other performers, who are sat at the front of the stage. The furniture has moved forward with the fabric, and they all take on their initial position (woman on the rocking chair, man standing behind her etc...). They start talking to us but no sound comes out. They slowly close their eyes. Maybe they can only escape in their dreams. The piece ends at the right time: I have tears in my eyes.

Bonachela Dance Company - The land of yes and the land of no @ St Paul's cathedral's steps

I went along to the steps of St Paul's cathedral last weekend to check out Bonachela Dance Company's new work, The land of yes and the land of no. Dressed in white, six dancers moved up and down the steps, performing solos or in partnership with others, before a big finale all together.

In a way this was typical abstract contemporary dance, with quite a lot of floor work and some phrases that looked bloody exhausting to perform - particularly the last section, that must be relentless for the dancers.

As well as a cast of very good dancers, the piece benefits from a great score written by the Italian composer Ezio Bosso. All strings and minor keys, it conveys particular emotions (somethign bitter sweet, some sadness, the wish to soar) that I could see in the movement and the dancers.

My only small criticism is that I found it difficult to see how Bonachela explored how everyday signs and directions affect us, which is apparently the idea behind this piece. I noticed how, when they performed in three, two dancers often seemed to block the other or redirect his movement, but beyond that... A solo by Paul Zivkovich also reminded me of someone trapped, unable to achieve what he wants because of society's obligations and expectations.

But this is only minor, for anyone can read what they want into an abstract dance piece, and it does not matter anyway. What matters is that it makes you feel something, touches you. And I was quite touched by The land of yes and the land of no. I am now curious as to how these extracts will transform into a full-length piece at the Queen Elizabeth Hall this September, without the powerful backdrop of St Paul's columns behind them.

Some nice black and white images of the performances here and here.
More info on Bonachela Dance Company here.

Clod Ensemble's Under Glass @ Village Underground

Went to East London on Friday to see the Clod Ensemble and their show Under Glass. I wasn't really sure what to expect from 'a collection of human beings contained in a series of glass jars, cabinets and test tubes', except that it would be different to what I had seen before.

I was not disappointed. Everything was different from the moment we arrived at the venue. Tucked in an alleyway, me and my friend couldn't find the place, until we noticed this massive wall painting indicating it. Duh.

There are lots of people outside having tea and cigarettes, who tell this is indeed the place we are looking for. It turns out that they actually were the cast having a break between two performances. Pretty chilled out!

Before the show starts, an usher makes an announcement: 'There will be moments of complete darkness. Please follow the ushers, who will tell you where to sit. When you have to move, the area you are moving to will be lit. Ushers might ask you to sit on the floor or crouch to ensure everyone can see, please follow their instructions.' I get quite excited. We are led to a rectangle of light and asked to sit on the floor.

Under Glass is made of eight individual pieces: eight characters, each in their own glass case (a test tube, a jam jar, rectangles, squares...), each prisoner of their own world and their own minds. Only one of them speaks, an older lady who talks to someone on the phone. She is one of those grannies who know everything that goes on in the village, spending her time hiding behind the curtains, looking out and calling her friends to share gossips. Her text is a poem by Alice Oswald, and it describes a disturbing place at the end of the world, where nothing is quite normal:

'so many names in this place not many of us left
living on the last we can find can you hear this
somebody out peering out not me noticed the least likely the very soul of respectability
eating something in the cemetery not rats I hope are you listening'

Each character is intermittently illuminated: the old woman, a shy girl, a big woman in water, a couple on the floor who look very much alike and who are confined to a small circular spacelike twins in a womb, a tall woman in a black victorian dress who spends most of her time looking at herself, an office worker stuck in his very small office, unable to stand up in it, a girl in a small jar, another girl lying on grass.

There is a bit of dance (in the shy girl for example, who like a wall flower is confined to a thin strip against a wall), some humour, a score made of strings and rumbles, and in the end it creates a very immersing and poetic experience.

After the show we went for vietnamese on Kingsland road and the police burst into the restaurant to arrest a man in the toilets. You gotta love London on nights like this.

More about the Clod Ensemble.
Review of Under Glass and image from the Guardian.

Hagit Yakira - Oh Baby @ Cloud Dance Festival, Jacksons Lane

Headed all the way to Highgate to Jacksons Lane for one night of the Cloud Dance Festival (it ran Friday 24 - Sunday 26 April) for what was a pretty long evening of dance (7.30pm start, end past 10.30pm)

And following some good (Jennifer Essex in Washed and the quote of the year: "Have you ever been on a date because you were too lazy to commit suicide?", Rancidance's Musicology) and quite bad stuff, came on Hagit Yakira and Takeshi Matsumoto with Oh Baby, choreographed by Yakira.

It started with Matsumoto singing what sounded like some sort of Japanese nursery rhyme (though I can't be sure!), smiling to the audience, gently and with humour, before he was joined by Yakira, who was her singing in Hebrew (I believe!)

The choreography was very physical, with lots of jumps and collisions between the two, reflecting the dynamism and crazy mood of Yakira, who started giving orders to her partner: Hug me! (he hugs her, drops her, she falls on the floor) Hug me! Stay! Fall! (they both fall on the floor) Hug me! Stay! Fall! Turn to the left. Another turn to the left. - in their relationship, she is the one making the decisions, she is the choreographer.

But when she orders him Talk to me! He stays silent, until, after she repeats her order again and again, getting angrier and angrier, he makes a face and starts screaming like crazy, venting his frustration.

The mood of the piece throughout is very humourous and witty. They flirt, play with each other, she bosses him around, they kiss... All in all, this was my favourite piece of the evening: fun, full of energetic movement, it left me with a big smile on my face.

Eonnagata reviews

The Times - 3 stars 'Gorgeous in many ways, especially visually, yet dull in others, Eonnagata feels like a work that hasn't yet found its focus.'

The Evening Standard - 2 stars 'Eonnagata works as a reverse synergy, with the baffling sum less than its intriguing parts.'

The Financial Times - 'Eonnagata does not ultimately hang together and falls far short of a coherent show.'

The Independent - 'It can be beautiful, but it is a static experience.'

The Daily Telegraph - 'While never less than interesting, it is as if the admiration that each of the trio has for the others has blunted the clarity of their individual visions. The effect is attractive but blurred, an evening that is both too full of ideas and too short of the means to develop them.'

The Observer - 'You leave gorged with artifice - the lighting, the couture, Guillem's still-fabulous développé devant - but wondering what, if anything, lies behind it all.'

Triple bill @ Royal Opera House - review

Seven Deadly Sins/Carmen/Danse a Grande Vitesse

I can't believe the Financial Times' Clement Crisp gave such a bad review to this triple bill - ' it has all the attractions of Ebola fever' he said (he likes his random references, the Clement)

Seven Deadly Sins is more a show that ballet, with a big multi-level set, great lighting and the singing of Martha Wainwright. The dancing was ok, if nothing much, and I thought all the sins blended into one - lust (there was a lot of groping). It wasn't that bad.

Ek's Carmen was really interesting. I enjoyed the music, adapted from Bizet of course - lots of percussions and weird sounds, and the cast shouted a lot too, in an invented language as far as I could tell (think Spanish meets Russian meets Japanese) There was some really cool movement, very modern and angular, with lots of humourous bits thrown in.

I was worried I had idealised DGV in my head - maybe I remembered it as a better ballet than it was. Thankfully I was proved wrong. Some amazing lifts, fantastic group work, and this almost relentless music from Michael Nyman, marching and taking you on with it. It really works.

This couple was sat behind me and they had come in to see Martha Wainwright. 'Oh', she said before it started, 'there are 2 intervals, so many we can leave after the second, unless we want to see some real dance.' I turned around and told them they should stay 'the third piece is very good!'. At the end, she thanked me for my advice 'It was fantastic! Magical! Some pure dancing... I felt like a little girl... beautiful. It was also nice that there was no story to follow and you could just lose yourself into it.' Horray, a new convert?

Rafael Bonachela - 62C

As mentioned earlier on this blog, choreographer Rafael Bonachela picked 6 choreographers he liked and invited them to perform at Southbank Centre. It was free so I went to check it out.

Due to the snow and stuff, I only made it on the Saturday (3 other choreographers were performing on the Sunday) but still it was pretty good. A few pics below.

Quite a lot of people turned up, which is cool! Go dance!

Rafael Bonachela wasn't there himself but did record something on video.

Adam Linder. Yes, he wanked off a gun - the 10-year-old girl next to me looked a bit horrified. His solo, set to Ravel's bolero, was interesting, but maybe with an undertone that was too violent or sexual for an afternoon audience (even a contemporary dance one). The hilarious thing was this middle-aged man who went at the front of the stage and started putting his legs up in the air and do weird things - we all thought he was part of the piece, but realised he wasn't when security came to take him out.
Credits to Adam Linder for carrying on with his performance though.

I can't really remember anything Blanca Arrieta did (sorry!), but I am quite happy with this picture.

If you went on the Sunday, feel free to let us know what it was like!

Spring Awakening @ Lyric Hammersmith, London - review

Went to see Spring Awakening. 2nd preview, and it looked pretty sharp to me. Let's keep this review simple:

- Cast: all good from everyone. Good acting, good voices, good presence. Many are doing their professional debut in this production. Very fresh.
- Staging: very cool. Lighbulbs hang from the ceiling, neons in the theatre, back wall covered in paintings, images, a blackboard listing the songs, more neons and lights, some objects related to the story etc... There are seats for the audience on either side of the stage, where the actors also sit sometimes, and a small band at the back (piano, guitar, fiddle, drums and more). Actors help with the running of the show, moving microphones about, taking the lights down etc, giving a special feel to the proceedings.
- Songs: pretty good. I wasn't sure about the idea of pop-rock tunes for something based on a 1900s play, but it did work. Being a teenager then was worse than it is now, but the angst and the fear and the weight of adults' expectations on your shoulder remain. Mama and Spring/Summer are particular favourites of mine.
- I enjoyed the story and realised it was darker than I expected. Abuse, violence, suicide, teenage pregnancy... it's all in there.
- The one thing I didn't like was the way the gay relationship between two of the boys was treated as comic relief for act 2. I doubt that at a such a religious time, in small-town Germany, two boys realising they loved each other would be so comfortable with it. Why did the audience laugh? Embarassment, probably (as in many other moments of the piece) and because one of the boys suddenly developed cliched manoeurisms (nowhere to be seen beforehand) and we had jokes about licking the cream. Why present it that way? Their future is probably no brighter than that of the 3 main characters...
Anyway this is a small thing...

Overall, this is a very good show and production. The message I got from this was that thank god I am living in 2009, in a (relatively) tolerant society that allows you to be who you want to be and where social norms are not as suffocating as in the past. However, growing up remains tough!

Tickets here.

Review update (4 Feb)
The Guardian - 3 stars
The Telegraph - 5 stars
The Times - 5 stars
The Stage - positive review

Impressing the Czar @ Sadler's Wells - review

GO GO GO! This is surreal, crazy, funny, superbly danced, especially Act 2 In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated, where things get serious and technical and are all about the purity of the movement.

I didn't know what to expect, and I was blown away.

Video with bits from Act 2 and Act 3 (yes it's the entire company dressed as schoolgirls...crazy, I said)

Sangre Flamenca @ Peacock Theatre, London - review

It was a pretty good show, though me and my flamenco friends (I take flamenco dance classes) found it very cheesy at times.

Lead dancers and co-founders of Nuevo Ballet Espanol Angel Rojas and Carlos Rodriguez are very good dancers, but at times, their mix of flamenco and contemporary dance doesn't work very well, particularly when danced to a moody (read: boring) soundtrack.

I found the second tableau, between 2 guys and a girl, particularly dreadful. There was some imaginative stuff in there, but lord, they just tried too hard.

Also, Angel kind of milked the applause at the end of his solo. First, he danced, then came to the front of the stage and danced some more, but no one really applauded afterwards. Why? Because we were not impressed, that's why! His footwork was fast but only in short sections - little build-up, no time to think 'wow this is crazy, he is amazing!"

When they stayed close to pure flamenco (eg Carlos' solo, in particular), that's where it was beautiful.

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.

Heaps (Farruco @ Sadler's Wells review, Mujeres @ Sadler's Wells review)

OK, need to catch up...

I didn't enjoy Los Farruco very much. Very raw and talented performers, but I don't think it's a style that works well in a big theatre. I also found it quite repetitive: "Oh! another really fast footwork!" and I didn't like the way they always ended their routine right at the front of the stage, arms up, facing the audience, waiting for applause. Don't milk it man.

Mujeres, however, was sublimissime. Very contemporary, but still traditional, with bata de cola, abanicos, castanets, it all mixed beautifully. The 3 dancers (Merche Esmeralda, Belen Maya and Rocio Molina) were just great: sharp and gracious, beautiful hands, beautfiul facial expressions. They really knew what they were doing. Big winner that night, the singer Diana Navarro, who appeared as guest-artist during the show. She sang with an amazing voice, at the same time flamenca, arabic, fadista and more. She blew us away.

The Guardian tells us about the 10 best places to eat tapas in Granada. I want to go back!

30 Rock is back on Thursday the 10th of April on NBC. The season 1 DVDs are out next week.

Big things happening in 2 weeks - scary, necessary and exciting. Will keep you posted.

Super cute story in the NYTimes of Public School 59, in the Bronx, where they love Irish dancing. We need more of that (I mean people, and young kids in particular, dancing, not necessarily Irish dancing, though it's nice!)

Adolfo Suarez is 75 / Morphoses review

In 1976, a few months after the death of Franco, the new head of the Spanish state, the King Juan Carlos II, named Adolfo Suarez president of the government. his task: bring democracy to Spain.
Today, Adolfo Suarez is 75. El Pais celebrates his birthday by asking some of his colleagues to remember his best moment, in what is a good portrait and informational article about the Transition. Read on!

Went to see the show of new ballet company Morphoses, set up by Christopher Wheeldon, one of the most successful living choreographer, and it was really good. The reviews were pretty mixed (The Guardian loved it, the Financial Times not at all) I really enjoyed it, though you could tell the company is new and it is quite a financial gamble: the programme was rather short (4 ballets of 20,7,27 and 20 minutes respectively) with many Pas de Deux (ie less ballet dancers to pay!), costumes borrowed from other companies and little stage design. But the pieces were very good and the dancers amazing. Wheeldon gave credit to the choreographer he is inspired by (Balanchine and Forsythe) before presenting a new ballet, Fools' Paradise.


One of the member of the company is Aesha Ash, a great ballerina, tall, with shapes, really long legs, and black! And there aren't many, as this article from the NY Times reported a few months ago. She was great, in a William Forsythe's Pas de Deux. Can't wait to see more of her.