Chicago 50 years, Giselle, Osipova, McGregor, Raymonda and more - news clipping
- Ikuko
- Mar 17
- 4 min read
I have found many interesting articles, reviews and interviews this month. Here are only some of them, mixed with my personal experiences. As of 17 March 2025.
Bob Fosse's Chicago premiered on Broadway, New York, in spring 1975. Dance Magazine published an article about the musical featuring Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, who are accused of murder then become celebrities. It is currently the longest running musical on Broadway and second in history to The Phantom of the Opera, according to the magazine.
I was lucky enough to watch Chicago on Broadway many moons ago and it was so energetic! Shame I do not remember the cast.
Is it your favorite ballet? It is mine. The Guardian newspaper writer Lyndsey Winship explores why this 184-year old peasant girl with a weak heart never stop captivating dancers, creators and general audience alike.
I have lots of personal memories with Giselle.
My date arrived 30 minutes late and he missed the first half and I was furious. It would not make sense as Giselle any more. He said he wanted to watch it but was surprised it had started on time.
I booked a ticket for The Royal Ballet's Giselle with Natalia Osipova as the title role long time ago, but I got some nasty stomach bug and I could not make it. What a shame.
But I was very happy when I managed to secure one of the last remaining seats for Akram Khan's Giselle.
The only time I saw Michaela Mabinty DePrince on stage was her as Myrtha with the English National Ballet in London.
Oh, I took a workshop for non-professional dancers for Giselle's variation in Act I many moons ago and I lived Giselle. I want to do it again.
My favorite Giselle is probably Alina Cojocaru, Julie Kent and Alessandra Ferri. Who is yours?
The same author Lyndsey Winship reviewed celebrated choreographer Wayne McGregor’s Deepstaria at Sadler's Wells, London. Deepstaria is a type of jellyfish. Apparently, the author was awed by the creatures in McGregor's work. "You marvel at the absolute clarity of their forms – bodies revealed in minimal black underwear or translucent organza that appears to float," she says in the article.
Deepstaria has another talking point, which is the use of Vantablack for the stage set. Vantablack is a super-black coating that absorbs 99.9% of light. Surrey NanoSystems, the company which created the paint, granted Anish Kapoor exclusive rights to use Vantablack in artistic applications a few years ago. This somehow led to the Vantablack vs Pinkest Pink paint controversy. But it seems McGregor can use the Blackest Black paint.
The New York Times runs many articles and reviews about Twyla Tharp but I found this article by Gia Kourlas inspiring. It is titled "The Transformer: Twyla Tharp Dives Into the Future." Tharp is 83 years old and celebrating her company's 60 year-anniversary. The article also carries some photographs of rehearsals.
Ashley Bouder seems unstoppable, too. She has just retired from the New York City Ballet as Principal Dancer, and is quickly moving on to activism. NBC New York ran an interview clip. Here is her new website.
Speaking of activism, dancer-choreographer Chanel DaSilva talks about her art-led activism in an interview piece written by Lyndsey Winship with The Guardian newspaper. The New Yorker also talks about her therapy.
Winship also published a review about Ballet Black's Shadows double bill, for which DaSilva created A Shadow.
Osipova/Linbury review - The Guardian and Gramilano
Natalia Osipova is one of the strongest classical ballerinas in the world today but she likes to perform contemporary/modern whenever she has an opportunity. The Guardian's Lyndsey Winship gave her recent project, the Osipova/Linbury triple bill, a favorable review. Whereas, Gramilano's Matthew Paluch is critical of the first two pieces.
I watched Tamara Rojo's Raymonda with the English National Ballet before she left for San Francisco Ballet. I loved the highly technical choreography. But all of my friends and I vaguely mouthed downbeat feelings about the ballet, especially the Grand pas Hongrois, and puzzled about the ending. Raymonda danced the famous solo, usually the highlight of the ballet, wearing a rather-normal looking wedding dress, not a tutu, and we could all hear her secret scream saying, "I am not sure if I want to get married." Then she immediately left her groom. The original Raymonda plot is super weak anyway, so is it worth trying to reconstruct it with a new story telling? But we were not allowed to say that out loud. Because it's created by Tamara Rojo. Maybe she just wanted to correct the Islamophobia in the original. We never know.
San Francisco Chronicle's Rachel Howard says, "The demanding dancing hardly lets up in “Raymonda” — and San Francisco Ballet has rarely danced better."
Lower down, the author says;
"The deeper problem is that Raymonda’s character arc still feels more schematized than dramatically realized. It is surely difficult to dramatize that the main character is still yearning for an independently fulfilled vocational existence as she’s performing the final Grand Pas Classique, usually a pure dance showcase. Still, it hits rather strange when Raymonda goes through her entire wedding and then abruptly puts on a coat to head back to the war without so much as an apology to her immediately abandoned husband. Maybe she’s cheerfully placid because she’s stocked up with memories of the Ottoman stud to get her through the lonely nights?"
She says in Fjord Review, "The dancers at the top of the roster were shining, too, especially Sasha De Sola, who summited a new career peak in the outrageously demanding title role. Whether this “Raymonda” was a success with California audiences, though, remained a mixed question."