ballet and dance

HOT Alert: Week of 14 September

September 13, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Not so busy this week, which is good because I really need to catch up on some old posts…. Melbourne Twitter Underground Brigade (@MTUB) have their monthly meeting to bring together Melbourne’s Twitterers. Softbelly Bar on Friday 18 September; La Boheme showing as part of the World Opera and Ballet season at Kino Cinemas on [...]

HOT: La fille mal gardee, Kino Cinemas, 45 Collins St, Melbourne

August 29, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

In my view there’s no better way to spend a rainy weekend that to immerse yourself in the beauty of ballet. The Royal Ballet production of Frederick Ashton’s La fille mal gardee (The Wayward Daughter) starred my favourite ballerina Marianela Nunez with Carlos Acosta, and it was a frothy comedy full of pretty colours and [...]

HOT ALERT: Week of 24 August 2009

August 23, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Get ready readers! This week’s the beginning of the Melbourne Writers Festival and I will be attending three sold out events: live broadcast of ABC1′s Q&A on 27 August; filming of the ABC’s popular First Tuesdays Book Club on 28 August; and Chris Tsiolkas, author of The Slap in conversation on 30 August. What else [...]

HOT: Traces, Comedy Theatre, 240 Exhibition St, Melbourne

August 22, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

The circus troupe Les 7 doigts de la main are all young graduates of Montreal’s National Circus School. Their latest production to come to Melbourne is Traces, which explores the traces they, and we, want to leave behind when we’re returned to the dust. The dynamic dance and awe-inspiring acrobatics are very similar to Montreal’s [...]

HOT: Raise the Red Lantern, the Arts Centre, 100 St Kilda Rd, Melb

August 6, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

The National Ballet of China’s has brought their sumptuous production of Raise the Red Lantern to the Arts Centre and it’s a beautiful production that’s well worth seeing. Zhang Yimou’s film Raise the Red Lantern was banned in China when it was released in 1991 so it’s slightly incongruous that the communist government has now [...]

HOT: Giselle, Kino Cinemas, 45 Collins St, Melbourne

August 1, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

The second of my forays into World Opera and Ballet was the lovely 2006 production of Giselle by the Royal Ballet. Romanian ballerina Alina Cojocaru was deservedly promoted to the top rank of Principal after this performance of Giselle - her bright smile and blithe spirit were perfect for the innocent Giselle, her technique was [...]

NOT: Pharaoh’s Daughter, Cinema Nova, 380 Lygon St, Carlton

July 26, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Cinema Nova launched its season of ballet filmed in HD ‘The World’s Greatest Ballets‘ with a screening of Pharaoh’s Daughter as performed by the Bolshoi Ballet in 2003. Now the the Royal Opera House is no longer a 30 minute tube ride from my house, I’ve really come around to the idea of seeing opera [...]

HOT: Mayumana, The Arts Centre, 100 St Kilda Rd, Southbank

July 22, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Mayumana is a 85 minutes of all-singing, all-dancing, slapstick energy and it’s inevitable that it will be compared to the last all-singing, all-dancing , slapstick show that Melbourne hosted, Cirque de Soleil. The difference with Mayumana is that the thumping rhythm of the show is provided by the acoustic properties of the body and a [...]

HOT OR NOT? Mayumana, State Theatre, Southbank

July 20, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

To celebrate the new home of MEL: HOT OR NOT, I’ve decided to test trial a little interactivity on the blog. Basically, I have a double pass to see Mayumana at the Arts Centre for 8pm Wednesday 22 July and I would like to take one of my readers as my date! Movement creates music [...]

HOT: Creative Australia and the Ballets Russes, The Arts Centre, 100 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne

July 1, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

As part of Australian Ballet’s 2009 Ballet Russes season, the Arts Centre is holding a free exhibition called Creative Australia and the Ballet Russes which explores the influence of the Ballet Russes on the art and design scene in Australia, the legacy of the ballet company in Australian dance and its inspiration for three visual [...]