English National Ballet - Strictly Gershwin

Daily Mail“There’s plenty to praise...” If you’re mad about the Gershwins, you’ll love it. If you’re less passionate, it may all prove too much...

The Telegraph“A reminder of ENB’s current strength...” These pedigree princes give a thoroughbred classical gloss to their material, and the jazz idiom obliges them to dance brighter, louder and sexier. Who really could ask for any more?...

The Independent“Blends ballet and ballroom, with a dollop of tap dancing...” Deane’s choreography is a mixed bag. There are some fluent duets, but his big crowd dances sag and bustle. An American in Paris is a jumble of onion-sellers, cancan girls and bicyclists, with the central romance overwhelmed by all the fuss...

Financial Times“Dance that looks intriguingly below the music’s surface charm...” The production is burnished within an inch of its life, the big band plays roaringly on stage and its conductor behaves with a vivacity that is more than ingratiating.

this is london“Served straight the ingredients fall a little flat...” The best numbers feel like ballet daydreaming that it might be something else. In Shall We Dance, Begoña Cao does a mercurial impression of a Ginger Rogers quickstep, despite performing much of it on point.

The Arts Desk“Wonderful for some, but not for me...” Gershwin’s music is rich in swagger, poignancy, pep, carefreedom, aching nostalgia, and little of any of that comes out in the doing of Deane's steps by ballet dancers trained in a vocabulary that is strictly up and down.