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Scheherazade – Lines Ballet Click here for tickets Alonzo King is a startlingly original choreographer whose LINES Ballet company reflects both his ease with the classical vocabulary and his belief that every individual has the potential to grow through dance. He has made work for most of the world’s great ballet companies although his own company, based in San Francisco, is the breeding ground for most of his ground-breaking dances as in this Scheherazade. This Scheherazade reimagines and translates ancient Persian, Sanskrit and Arabic stories into a thrilling display of contemporary ballet. Interpreting 1001 Nights, Alonzo King works his usual magic with highly fluid and energetic movements with the addition of Middle Eastern dance elements and non-Western forms. The score is by composer Zakir Hussain, who used Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1888 score—the basis for the opulent 1910 ballet by Michel Fokine and the Ballets Russes—as his starting point. The ballet is directed and choreographed by Alonzo King. Michael Ball and Alfie Boe: Back Together Again Click here for tickets Being up there on the stage all alone is a lonely business. Even big names like the star of all the major musicals you can think of, Michael Ball, and Alfie Boe, an opera singer who broke the operatic mould to become truly popular as a solo artist, often long to work with a friend. The two of them have found each other which is good news for the rest of us. Their voices, each distinctive, blend well and they have a camaraderie on stage which can’t be faked. Here’s the last show of their first phenomenally successful arena tour in 2017 at London’s O2 Arena, which left their fans, pop and opera, shouting for more. And why not? Together, Ball and Boe light up the stage and the screen. Fruits of the Spirit – National Gallery Click here to watch This is an innovative online tour that takes a bit of effort on our part. It’s an exhibition which allows us to examine nine paintings in the National Gallery’s collection, alongside nine works of art from partner institutions across the UK, artificially but logically divided into themes – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – all the positive attributes highlighted by Saint Paul in his 2000-year old Letter to the Galatians. Fruits of the Spirit spans different periods and perspectives to showcase the power of art for contemplation and transformation. We get to choose for ourselves which painting to look at and which of the descriptions to focus on, by navigating around the exhibition clicking, dragging and moving our mouse (mouses? mices?) and being able to return to those that capture our attention. A ? allows you to scroll around and the Menu at the top right identifies all the paintings in the exhibition. Drag to look around. Click on a painting or wall text to navigate to it. Click on the ? in the bottom right for more help. It's easy once you get the knack. Take a quiet moment to explore themes of joy and happiness in this pioneering virtual experience. Yunchan Lim – Wigmore Hall Click here to watch This is the UK debut of the phenomenal Korean pianist Yunchan Lim. He won the Gold Medal at the 2022 Van Cliburn Competition in Fort Worth at the age of 18 – the youngest ever winner. Already a prodigious success at various international competitions, he can seemingly play anything well. The young musician could hardly have chosen a more demanding collection of composers to show off his talents to London. In this diverse and extremely difficult programme, he attacks not just Bach and Beethoven, but, in a nod to his English hosts, he starts the programme with John Dowland’s Pavana Lachrymae arranged by William Byrd. He ends it with Lizst’s Liebestraum No 3. Sandwiched between these wildly different musical personalities he takes on Bach’s 15 Sinfonias (BWV787-801), Beethoven’s 7 Bagatelles Op. 33, and his 15 Variations and a Fugue on an Original Theme in E flat 'Eroica Variations' Op. 35. Then, for an encore, he returns to Bach with Myra Hess’s transcription of Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. He has been the recipient of almost embarrassingly enthusiastic reviews and articles for one so young. ‘Lim is a one-in-a-million talent’, wrote the Dallas Morning News, while for jury chair Marin Alsop he is ‘that rare artist who brings profound musicality and prodigious technique organically together.’ He’s still a music student and, following a world tour after his Cliburn win, he now returns to South Korea to resume his studies. Rashida Bumbray – Met Museum Click here to watch Artist-in-residence Rashida Bumbray is a performance artist, curator, choreographer, and the Director of Culture and Art at the Open Society Foundations. Her work focuses on Black urban spaces and communities, and what it means to be in a space that has layers of generational trauma. For Black History Month, Rashida Bumbray has made this fascinating film about Black women and their experience of a great museum. And to describe what went into her film for the 100 Years, 100 Women Project, celebrating the anniversary of suffrage for women and her own residency at the Met. The Carioca – Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Click here to watch So many contenders for the ‘best dance routine ever filmed’ that I’ve had to make a special file for readers' choices. Here’s this week’s entry, Fred and Ginger (“Everything he did, I did backwards, in heels”) in their first movie together, Flying Down to Rio (1933). Here’s the Carioca, foreheads firmly pressed together. I can’t imagine how hard it was for them to dance with their heads together like that, in such an unnatural position. It was said that he would work on their dances alone while she, at the time a bigger star, was filming elsewhere. Then she would arrive on the set, in costume and make-up, he would show her the steps, once, and then the cameras rolled. Magic, yes, but I'm amazed all over again by how incredibly precise and disciplined they were and how easy they made it look.
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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