dance
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Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Don Quixote Is Magnificent.
Storm Eunice may have been wreaking havoc outside, but at the Birmingham Hippodrome it was all about the warm Spanish sunshine, as the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s intoxicating Don Quixote had its opening night. Carlos Acosta’s wonderful reworking of the classic ballet combines wit and passion, stirring music and the most wonderful, Flamenco inspired dance to create a masterpiece of entertainment that had the audience on their feet for a standing ovation at its end. Don Quixote is a simple sole who lives in a world of make believe. He believes himself to be medieval knight on a quest to serve the bridelike Lady Dulcinea, and sets off, with a fruit…
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Aladdin Weaves A Magic Spell at the Birmingham Hippodrome
I think that even adults need the magic of fairy tales in their lives, and last night I was transported to the land of beautiful Princesses, handsome heroes and magic lamps when I attended the press preview of Aladdin by the Birmingham Royal Ballet at the Birmingham Hippodrome. This production by David Bintley is an exquisite triumph, perfect entertainment for the whole family, with scenes that amuse, romantic sequences that charm, and an wholly engaging cast that keep you entertained throughout. The story is kept thankfully familiar, Mathias Dingman is wonderful as Aladdin, playing the role as a likeable cheeky chappy who gets himself into troubles that almost cost him…
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Reviewed: Penguin Cafe Mixed Programme
The Autumn season of the Birmingham Royal Ballet at the Birmingham Hippodrome began last night with the Penguin Cafe mixed programme, an eclectic collection of three short ballets headlined by the sublime ‘Still Life’ at the Penguin Cafe. The triple hander showed the diversity of ballet, from the Ragtime dancing of Elite Syncopations, to the Morris dancing of ‘Penguin Cafe’, right through to the paired back, beautiful simplicity of Concerto. Concerto A bare stage, plain rehearsal style costumes and the stirring music of Shostakovich, Concerto is a ballet that definitely has two moods. The first and third act are upbeat and lively, but it is the second act dance that…