Dance

It was back to the Royal Opera House last week for the Bolshoi Ballet's colourful production of Don Quixote. They are coming to the end of their season at Covent Garden and this production was a visual treat. The production is a restating by Alexei Fadeyechev of Petipa's original Don Quixote with the lead roles of Kitri and Basil danced on the first night by Margarita Shrainer and Igor Tsvirko and on the second night by Eleonora Sevenard and Artemy Belyakov. I hope that you enjoy my blog. Please keep reading, tell others about my website and please let me have your comments.

I had the great pleasure of photographing scenes from the Bolshoi Ballet's superb production of Spartacus this week. They are back in the UK at Covent Garden for three weeks and this production is enthralling and dynamic. The lead roles of Spartacus and Phrygia were danced on the first night by Denis Rodkin and Anastasia Dinisova with Artemy Belyakov as Crassus. The production is compelling and definitely one to see. I hope that you enjoy my blog. Please keep reading, tell others about my website and please let me have your comments.

Last week my fellow dance photographer John Hudson and I attended the rehearsal of the annual Russian Ballet Icons Gala at the Coliseum in London, organised by Ensemble Productions since 2006. The Gala is a celebration of the legacy of the famed Russian Ballet School. The 2019 Gala featured classical masterpieces and contemporary dances created by today’s leading choreographers from Russia and world-wide.  The programme was performed by the principal dancers of the Bolshoi Theatre, Mariinsky Theatre, Mikhailovsky Theatre, Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Boston Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, New York City Ballet, Staatsballett Berlin, the Vienna State Opera and others. It was memorable  event and fascinating to photograph. There was a fabulous range of talent to watch and I've included  a few representative images - some contemporary and some classical and hope that you enjoy them.    

I had the great pleasure of photographing Balletboyz this week at Sadler's Wells. They are back in the UK on tour with 'Them/Us'. Both pieces are set to original scores by world-class composers. Balletboyz was founded in 2000 by ex-Royal Ballet dancers Michael Nunn and William Trevitt. They are a groundbreaking contemporary dance company and since 2005 have been Associate Artists at Sadler's Wells. Them is the first ever production to be created solely by the Balletboyz own in-house talent. The second half of the programme features Us, which explores human connections and culminates in an expanded version of the duet from Fourteen Days which premiered in 2017. I hope that you enjoy my blog. Please keep reading, tell others about my website and please let me have your comments.

Some images for you to enjoy from the Birmingham Royal Ballet's Beauty and the Beast which I was fortunate enough to photograph in Southampton last wee. The staging and quality of performance were excellent. Delia Mathews and Tyrone Singleton danced the leads and were a joy to watch. Do catch this ballet if you have a chance, you won't be disappointed! I hope that you enjoy my blog. Please keep reading, tell others about my website and please let me have your comments.

I have been entering photographic salons for a while now and a year or so ago received my EFIAP award. Following that I cooled off on the idea of sending out images to salons all over the world but recently decided to test once again how well my work would be received. The images in this blog are a mixture of studio shots and performance images. The performance images are from Swan Lake by the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre, featuring Irina Kolesnikova and Denis Rodkin and Yulia Stepanova and Kimin Kim. There is also an image from the Birmingham Royal Ballet's production of Ignite with Celine Gittens and Brandon Lawrence. I have also included shots from a lively studio session with Jacob Hughes and Gwen Davies. I hope that you enjoy my blog. Please keep reading, tell others about my website and please let me have your comments.

I recently photographed the Birmingham Royal Ballet's production of 'La Fille mal Gardee' (the Wayward Girl) at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Frederick Ashton's full length performance is based on a 2 act comic ballet by Jean Dauberval, first shown in 1789 at a theatre in Bordeaux. The performance was full of energy and humour. It tells the story of the love between Lise, daughter of  Widow Simone a rich farmer and Colas, a young farmer who the widow initially feels unsuitable for her daughter. Lise and Colas were beautifully danced by Mokomo Hirata and Michael O'Hare. The production also features the well known clog dance. I hope that you enjoy my blog. Please keep reading, tell others about my website and please let me have your comments.

Here are some more photos from a great dance studio shoot . Sometime a studio session just works! Our dancers - Lydia and Jacob - are really talented and just sparkled throughout. They often asked us to repeat shots so that they could get it just right - that's real commitment! My good friend and fellow dance photographer John Hudson also took some superb images and my granddaughter Willow and her boyfriend George helped us enormously while also bagging some shots for themselves. Here are a few of the images -  I'll let them speak for themselves. I hope that you enjoy my blog. Please keep reading, tell others about my website and please let me have your comments.