✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Dance

International Draft Works, Linbury Theatre Review ★★★★★

11 Apr 19 – 12 Apr 19, 19:45 Dur: 2 hours 15 mins inc one interval

The inaugural programme of the Royal Ballet’s International Draft Works, at the Linbury Theatre, threw up a heady mix of new work from across Europa and America

By Teresa Guerreiro on 12/4/2019

Draft Works (c) ROH 2018 Andrej Uspenski
Draft Works (c) ROH 2018 Andrej Uspenski
International Draft Works, Linbury Theatre Review 4 International Draft Works, Linbury Theatre Review Teresa Guerreiro
International Draft Works follows on from the Royal Ballet’s choreographic development programme, Draft Works, which has been going for over a decade with aim of nurturing choreographic talent among the company’s dancers.


With the redeveloped Linbury Theatre offering a wealth of new possibilities, Emma Southworth, Creative Producer for The Royal Ballet, decided to open the platform to foreign companies; and ensembles from the US and Canada, as well from across continental Europe, gladly took the chance to be part of International Draft Works, alongside The Royal Ballet.


The first thing to point out is that all 10 works presented were highly accomplished. Some were genuinely innovative, others adhered to more conventional tropes, but all were interesting in their own way.


The most daring and challenging piece – also perhaps the most difficult to love – came from the American choreographer Drew Jacoby for her current company, Belgium’s Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. Entitled Jack, it was danced by four male characters to a collage of sound that ranged from scratchy recordings of human voice to Gerswhin’s Three Preludes for Piano.


Dressed in clinging black pants, with chest defining tops in lime green and orange, glitter smeared on their heads, one moment the men were camping it up as if in a hard core gay dive; the next they were producing immaculate ballet jumps. The aim, we were told in a programme note, was to juxtapose ‘classical ballet aesthetics with themes of pop, urban culture and gender non-conformity.’


For all its shock value, Jack was a highly intelligent, tightly structured piece, one that really did shine a new light on contemporary culture and dance’s place in it.


At the opposite end of the spectrum were works by Gemma Bond for American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company and Kit Holder for Birmingham Royal Ballet.


Gemma Bond’s Interchangeable Text, on a string quartet by Philip Glass, was pure American abstract dance, relying on fierce attack, spirited jetés and lifts, rapid changes of direction and multiple turns, all within the established ballet language, including pointe for the women. It was a pleasant enough whirlwind of lean bodies in orange, well served by 12 young hopefuls from ABT’s junior company, but not exactly new.


Kit Holder’s Stem, performed on Oliver Davis’ Liberty Suite, was also an abstract work built from the classical vocabulary and danced by two couples in black. The intricate choreography showed their elegant and expressive lines, as they dealt with a series of themes, or stems, that developed differently every time they recurred.


Easiest to love, for this reporter at least, were Milena Sidorova’s two short pieces for Dutch National Ballet. AI, which closed the programme, was a riff on Artificial Intelligence, danced with verve and humour by Aya Okumura in a white leotard and metallic blouson. It was a fast moving work, where robotic gestures regularly broke the dazzling flow of movement.


Earlier Sidorova had presented Sand, a rapturous, playful pas de deux of young love, performed by the partnership (surely made in heaven!) of Khayla Fitzpatrick and Giovanni Princic.


For the Royal Ballet Hannah Grennell created Zohar, on the eponymous track by Rachel Groen, a dark (and darkly lit) work for four dancers that showed the influence of Hofesh Shechter; in contrast Joshua Junker presented the contagious Canto de Ossanha, inspired by the music of the famed Brazilian guitarist and composer Baden Powell. It was a colourful, engaging work for six dancers, who responded to the music and danced… just because.


Plaudits, too, to Hamburg Ballet (choreographer Aleix Martinez), The National Ballet of Canada (Brendan Saye) and Norwegian National Ballet (Samantha Lynch and Douwe Dekkers), whose works were well worth seeing (but fell foul of the word count here…)


The inaugural International Draft Works provided a stimulating evening; we can only hope it'll become a regular event in years to come.


Returns only

by Teresa Guerreiro

What International Draft Works, Linbury Theatre Review
Where Royal Opera House, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD | MAP
Nearest tube Covent Garden (underground)
When 11 Apr 19 – 12 Apr 19, 19:45 Dur: 2 hours 15 mins inc one interval
Price £5-£45
Website Click here to book via the ROH



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 3–5 February
Things to do in London this weekend: 3–5 February
London exhibitions on now — Peter Doig, Courtauld Gallery
Top 15 exhibitions on now in London
Zadie Smith new novel, The Fraud, to be released in 2023, photo Justin Holler
An A to Z of trends for 2023

Editor's Picks

The Royal Ballet, Within the Golden Hour, Lauren Cuthbertson, Ryoichi Hirano (c) ROH 2019 Tristram Kenton
The Royal Ballet, Within the Golden Hour Review
Yorke Dance Project in Kenneth MacMillan's Playground, photo Pari Naderi
Yorke Dance Project, TWENTY Review
Lost Dog, Juliet & Romeo, photo Tristram Kenton
Ben Duke, Juliet & Romeo, Wilton's Music Hall
Carlos Acosta
Yuli, Carlos Acosta biopic, review
Rambert, Rouge, Juan Gil, Liam Francis, Daniel Davidson (c) Johan Persson
Rambert, Triple Bill Review
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

We recommend nearby

  • Dominique Ansel Treehouse
    Read more...
    Map
  • Sushisamba, Covent Garden

    Housed at the Opera Terrace, within the central Market Building, Sushisamba comes to Covent Garden. This is its second location in London after opening at Heron tower in Liverpool street. Expect Japanese-Brazilian-Peruvian fusion sushi and a truly unique culinary experience.

    Read more...
    Book Map
  • Cora Pearl

    Cora Pearl, the second restaurant from the team behind Kitty Fisher's, takes its name from the infamous 19th-century French courtesan. The menu, consisting of both French and British influenced cuisine, is deceptively simple, with cheese and ham toasties, fish stew, and chocolate ganache on offer.

    Read more...
    Book Map

International Draft Works

Linbury Theatre

ROH

The Royal Ballet

American Ballet Theatre

National Ballet of Canada

Birmingham Royal Ballet

Northern Ballet

Dutch National Ballet

Hamburg Ballet

Norwegian National Ballet

Royal Ballet of Flanders

We love


  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×