CriticalDance Forum

Cinderella
By Judith Mackrell for The Guardian


Michael Corder's Cinderella produces skeins of pretty and challenging steps, paints adroitly graceful stage pictures and flatters Prokofiev's occasionally dour and dumpy score. When it was first choreographed in 1996, it deserved its accolades. Yet today it could be used to highlight the distinction between a temporary class act and a classic.

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Cinderella
By Allen Robertson for The Guardian


ANY production of Cinderella must evoke the mystery and magic of the fairytale. That is not the easiest task when the venue is the off-putting, barn-like Apollo Hammersmith. The locale is not English National Ballet’s fault. With the Coliseum closed for renovation and Festival Hall booked to Raymond Gubbay, Hammersmith was the only option.

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Two articles looking at the business side of ENB's "Cinderella:

Tough nut for dancers to crack
By David Jays for The Financial Times


Christmas is coming and dancecompanies arepreparing to serve up the annual feast of Nutcrackers and other sweet-toothed seasonal fare. For dancers it is part of the year's routine. But for many companies, this is a crucial season - the moneyspinner that bankrolls the rest of their work.

However, ballet's hold on a popular audience - which in Britain and the US means cash-cow Christmas performances - is looking increasingly doubtful. The Nutcracker is facing increasing competition for the family audience. London companies are glancing nervously across the Atlantic, where the omens are not good.

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My week: Keeping on my toes
Even a ride on a No 9 bus inspires Janie Grace, managing director of The English National Ballet. From The Daily Telelgraph:

Saturday and Sunday

... are spent fretting over two preoccupations, both involving a great deal of forward planning and a need for endless cash: Christmas - presents, cards and logistics and the company - three years plans, budgets and logistics. Christmas seems achievable, but ENB's a bit of a challenge.

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Cinderella
Corder returns to Cinders, by Jann Parry for The Observer

In Michael Corder's 1996 Cinderella for English National Ballet, an enticing door opens onto a wider world at the back of the *******, promising magic. Cinders is confined to the gloomy basement; even when she finds a key to unlock the door, she doesn't dare venture into the green space outside.

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Cinderella, Apollo, Hammersmith, London
By Zoe Anderson for The Independent

The woman sitting behind me sighed happily at the end of each big dance number in English National Ballet's Cinderella. Michael Corder's production is tailored to show off the company as a classical troupe. It takes its time over the corps and magical scenes, surrounding the heroine with respectful tableaux. It is not inspired, but it is pretty.

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A Cinders glowing with love
For The Daily Telegraph Ismene Brown reviews Cinderella performed by the ENB at the Hammersmith Apollo.


With a traditional Cinderella and an untraditional Nutcracker this Christmas, English National Ballet are doing their level best to liven up the unappealing venue of the Hammersmith Apollo, while the Coliseum is being smartened up. A production has to work particularly hard to cancel out the dead impact of dim arrival zones under the flyover.

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Cinderella
By John Percival for The Stage

You could not hope for anyone more suited to the title part in English National Ballet's Cinderella than Elena Glurdjidze, the young Georgian ballerina who danced the night I attended. The warmth and love she gives the character are ideal and even passages where not much is happening come to life with her playing them.

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<small>[ 21 December 2003, 04:54 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>