Latest news with #ballet
New York Times
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
In London, the National Ballet of Japan Steps Onto the World Stage
Crooked crosses poked out of the ground and moonlit, diaphanous mist swirled across the forest floor. A ghostly figure appeared above a tree, terrifying the man standing below. It was a proper horror movie-thrill moment in the National Ballet of Japan's 'Giselle,' a wonderfully atmospheric production that opened at the Royal Opera House in London on Thursday to an audience that seemed delighted by the superb dancing of a company rarely seen outside Japan. The five-show run here (through Sunday) is a European debut for the National Ballet of Japan, and a homecoming for its director, Miyako Yoshida, who spent nearly three decades in England as a principal dancer with both the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet. In an interview, Yoshida said bringing the company to London was like saying thank you 'to the amazing directors who taught me to dance, to act, how to express my feelings onstage.' 'Giselle,' she added, 'the role where I first learned all this, is the history of my ballet life in England.' The stakes are high for Yoshida, who has directed the National Ballet since 2020. (Founded in 1997, the company is based at the New National Theater in Tokyo.) 'This is our first real tour as a company,' she said, 'in front of a sophisticated international audience, and the people who knew me as a dancer.' She paused. 'Scary!' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Telegraph
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Who needs the Russians when the Japanese can dance like this?
Three years ago, not long after Russia (re-)invaded Ukraine, I wrote: 'The effective home arrest of Russia's (often touring) Big Two' dance companies – ie the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky – 'has now left a fascinating power vacuum on the international stage, not least in Covent Garden's summer schedules. Who will fill it?' The root cause is miserably ongoing, of course, and yet we do have three very definite answers to date. In 2023, the Australian Ballet visited the Royal Opera House for the first time in 35 years; last August, a few streets away at the Coliseum, the State Ballet of Georgia made its charming UK debut. Now, at Covent Garden, the National Ballet of Japan is here for the very first time. And you know what? They may well be the pick of the visitors so far. The company's Giselle is a complete and particularly beautiful success. On one hand, this perhaps shouldn't come as a complete surprise: western classical ballet has existed in Japan for at least a century, and a great many Japanese-born dancers go on to have illustrious careers in the West. But fair's fair: given that this troupe was founded as recently as 1997, the polish, professionalism and assurance of the production and performance alike are astonishing. So, what is this Giselle actually like? In the extensive programme notes, Miyako Yoshida – a Royal Ballet star from 1995-2010, NBJ's director since 2020, and the show's producer – says: 'I felt drawn to a more traditional approach, but infused it with a sense of Japanese spirit'. Frustratingly, she doesn't elaborate on what the last part means. (An enhanced sense of the proximity between the 'real' and spirit worlds, conceivably?) But traditional, it certainly is. Back in the day, Yoshida danced in Peter Wright's pitch-perfect staging for the Royal Ballet, and that version's heightened aesthetics and complete respect for the 1841 source material clearly got under her skin. Opulently and painstakingly designed by Dick Bird, and with unobtrusive embellishments to the Petipa/Coralli/Perrot choreography by Alastair Marriott – Britons both – this is in fact as 'western' a Giselle as you may ever see, a heartbreaking, almost immersively atmospheric Rhineland ghost story – from Tokyo. Full marks, too for the dancing, across the ranks. Giselle – the dance-obsessed peasant girl in love with Albrecht, an already-betrothed count masquerading as a fellow commoner – is one of the great ballerina roles, and on the opening night Yui Yonezawa made it fly. Intensely musical, and almost impossibly light on her feet, she lends Giselle just the right dash of intensity and fragility, the sense of there being a vulnerable thread just waiting to be fatally unpicked by a lover's betrayal. Her handling of the 'mad scene', in which her jealous would-be paramour Hilarion (Masahiro Nakaya, excellent) unmasks Albrecht and her heart gives out, is marvellously original; her Giselle seems to turn into a wraith before our very eyes, even before the moonlit, magical Act II has begun. She and Shun Izawa's Albrecht – not in quite the same league, but a gutsy, full-blooded interpretation nonetheless – make a convincingly smitten couple in the earthbound Act I. And together they considerably swell the pathos in Act II, when Giselle's ghost, putting love over retribution, sets out to defend her errant ex from an army of 'Wilis', the vengeful spirits of women who were jilted on their wedding days. And what an eye-widening army they are. In the Act I ensembles, on Thursday night, the corps were already displaying a rare cohesiveness; in Act II, they were positively unheimlich. I'm not sure I've ever seen such an utterly uniform, eerily hall-of-mirrors clutch of spectres in any Giselle, such a potent illusion of physical ethereality and subtly martial malevolence. (Incidentally, these oh-so-western wraiths make a beautiful contrast with those of Wimbledon-born Akram Khan's 2016 version for English National Ballet, which he effectively recast as ' yurei ', the lank-haired Japanese phantoms that have haunted many a terrifying movie.) I suppose a cynic might argue that while Wright's Giselle remains a cornerstone of the Royal Ballet's repertory, this is all a bit coals-to-Newcastle. But when those coals are burning this very brightly, you won't hear me complaining.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
CBSO performs live tribute to Ozzy Osbourne in Birmingham's New Street Station
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra perform a live tribute to Ozzy Osbourne in Birmingham's New Street Station. The group performed an extract from Black Sabbath - The Ballet in memory of Osbourne, who died on Tuesday July 22 2025, aged 76.
France 24
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- France 24
National Ballet of Japan to make UK debut
In 2022, the Opera House called off the internationally renowned Moscow-based company's tour and proposed instead to open up their prestigious stage to the Japanese dancers. Founded in 1997, Japan's resident ballet company will perform in London for the first time from Thursday to Sunday. It will perform a production of Giselle, a classic romantic ballet which first premiered in 1841. The production is led by artistic director of the National Ballet of Japan Miyako Yoshida, 59, who was the first Japanese principal dancer at the British ballet institution between 1995 and 2010. Eleven Japanese dancers, including three principal dancers, now perform at the Royal Opera House and make up around 10 percent of the company. Returning to the prestigious stage was not only "a dream coming true," but also a lot of "pressure", Yoshida told AFP. When the Bolshoi's tour was cancelled, director of the Royal Ballet Kevin O'Hare approached his ex-classmate Yoshida to discuss bringing her company to London as a replacement. Aiming for accessibility The ex-ballerina "never imagined" it would happen "this quickly", and recalled that scheduling and funding issues had slowed the plans. The chance to perform came "too soon," she said. She admitted that the Japanese company, which even though it boasts its capacity to dance a wide repertoire, was perhaps not quite ready to replace one of the oldest and most prestigious ballet companies in the world. The young company put on productions in the US in 2008, and at the Bolshoi Theatre the following year, but this is the first time it will perform a classic Western ballet in Europe. "I tried to make it more easy to understand," said Yoshida, explaining that "young people" would not be interested in the ballet "if it was very old-fashioned". She wanted to capture the essence of the romantic ballet, which tells a story of forbidden love. Supported by choreographer Alistair Marriott, Yoshida hoped the production would distinguish itself with its pared-back simplicity. For Yoshida, the five London performances aim to "make the National Ballet of Japan known around the world" and enable its 75 dancers to evolve with other companies from Europe and beyond. "I want to make the company known worldwide," she said. © 2025 AFP
NHK
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- NHK
Yoshida Miyako returns to London with National Ballet of Japan
The National Ballet of Japan is in the UK for its first performance at the Royal Opera House. The London event marks a homecoming for the company's artistic director Yoshida Miyako. Yoshida served for many years as principal dancer of The Royal Ballet, which is based at the ornate theater. Yoshida told reporters on Tuesday that she felt truly nostalgic as she returned to the theater, and was happy to watch the dancers rehearse. She said she hopes the performance will become a big step forward for the National Ballet of Japan, as it aims to become a global name. The company will perform Yoshida's production of the 19th century classic "Giselle," over four days from Thursday. Yonezawa Yui, who will play Giselle, said it is like getting a gift to be able to dance on a historic stage like this. She said she hopes to perform well to make the spectators in London happy.
