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kurinuku
 Post subject: Peter Schaufuss Ballet
PostPosted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 1:21 pm 
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Quote:
Peter Schaufuss Ballet: Satisfaction
by SANJOY ROY for the Guardian
published: August 31, 2007

The show opens with rock-stadium searchlights raking the stage. Then, to Under My Thumb and Get Off of My Cloud, in come a troupe of dancers performing short sequences of modern ballet moves. They fill the stage with a lot of energy for little reason. With their high kicks, hokey stage-school choreography and Jane Fonda tank tops, they are more the Kids from Fame than the Rolling Stones.
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Satisfaction, Apollo Theatre, London
by ZOE ANDERSON for the Independent
published: August 31,2007

The Rolling Stones are still associated with the 1960s, when their music was new and rebellious. Satisfaction, Peter Schaufuss's "dance concert" to recordings of the band, avoids retro styling but still manages to feel appallingly dated. This is a stunted, awkward show, its dancers hobbled by dire choreography and woeful design.
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Cassandra
 Post subject: Divas, Apollo Theatre
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:30 am 
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Posts: 1742
Location: London UK
Peter Schaufuss returns to London with a new production called Divas. The inclusion of Irina Kolesnikova in the cast is enough to tempt me to see it.

http://www.arts-world.co.uk/index.php?p ... 41d122969a
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David
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:44 am 
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Location: Rugby, UK / Taipei
I may write something more in a few days when I have more time. I saw this at Northampton last night and suffice to say, I was decidedly unimpressed. Great music but much of the choreography is repetive and tedious. The work didn't really take off until about 'Embraceable You' and 'Fascinatin' Rhythm', halfway through Judy Garland, and the last of the three 'acts'.

Add to that the fact there were no programmes, not even a photocopied cast sheet. And no apology from the company or theatre for the lack of one. When I asked, all I got was a shrug of the shoulder and "talk to the manager."

Let's hope they have their act together by the time they get to London.
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Cassandra
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:37 am 
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Location: London UK
I went to a preview performance of Divas on Friday, as it was a preview I won't attempt to review it, but I think that it is aimed at a west end audience rather than a dance audience and the choreography seemed suited more to the musical genre than to ballet.

Like David I found the Judy Garland section the most impressive with Irina Kolesnikova giving a charismatic performance. Not sure what to make of the amazonian lady who portrayed 'little sparrow' Edith Piaf though.

The audience seemed to love everything.
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Cassandra
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 6:07 am 
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A review from The Times is unenthusiastic, but nevertheless praises Kolesnikova.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 220385.ece
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David
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:00 am 
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Location: Rugby, UK / Taipei
Louise Levene reviewed this for the Sunday Telegraph. It doesn't seem to be available on-line, but here is her last paragraph, which pretty much says it all:

"Schaufuss's dancemaking remains tin-eared and repetitive. The pair work features some of the ugliest lifts ever devised, the women fumbled through space with the sort of anxious gaucherie normally seen in pro-celebrity dance-offs. The ensembles are given almost every move in canon, problelbly just as well given the trouble they have with unison. Monday's performance of this four-year old production was billed as a preview, but no amount of seasoning would ever be able to mask the unmistakable whiff of turkey."

The full piece is on page 34 on 'Seven', the Sunday Telegraph arts supplement of 29 June 2008.
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Cassandra
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:56 am 
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Keith Watson was also very taken by Kolesnikova.

http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/articl ... _a_source=
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