Results tagged “IDFB” from Birmingham Post - Lifestyle Blog

The first International Dance Festival Birmingham is finished - and what a four-week feast it's been! Beginning with tai-chi on water at the Hippodrome and ending last night with the general public salsa-ing at sunset in the Mailbox, the IDFB triumphantly lived up to its own slogan - 'Bringing the city alive with dance'.

Now it's all over, I wish to honour the efforts and achievements of those involved with my very own awards ceremony (you'll be relieved to read that no phoney phone-ins nor he's-a-mate nepotism have in any way affected the resuts):

In the final movement of Jewels by the Kirov Ballet at the Hippodrome, it finally struck me. Ballet is the synchronised swimming of the dance world. Plenty of opaque smiles, lots of legs high up in the air and whatever's going on beneath the surface is out of sight and out of mind.

I can't help placing ballet in the same category as rhythmic gymnastics or figure skating. Whatever the costume colour or music style, you've got to produce officially-recognised positions of a sufficiently high quality in order to qualify. That's sport for you - not art.

Hooray - I have finally found something to moan about.

I've always been a bit of a purist really, in the sense that I've always thought that great performance was just great performance - it stands alone in a vacuum of marvellousness and nothing can touch it. As I discovered at Tuesday night's IDFB En Sus 13 flamenco show at the Town Hall, this is not true. Great performance also needs to be in a great venue and in front of a great audience.