Choreographie:Marguerite Donlon


Premiere: 2005 Staats Oper (Staatlisches Ballet Schule) Berlin

Tourt in Deutschland, Polen und England/Tours Germany, Poland, England

DanceEast continues to bring innovative and exciting dance pieces to Ipswich, as was evident at the performance last Saturday of The Red Shoes by the State Ballet School of Berlin.

The ballet, performed by 015 young dancers, was choreographed by Marguerite Donlon and was a far cry from most traditional ballets, containing, as it did, hip hop, jazz and Irish dancing elements.

Opening with David Bowie's Let's Dance (which contains the lyrics 'put on your red shoes and dance the blues') the dancers streamed onto the stage, full of energy..... One of the funniest, and cutest, sections was the ducklings, dressed in yellow with beaks on their heads, all quacking at each other and in time to the music.The ending was very moving as Karen, the main character played by Aoi Nakamura, had her feet snipped off by the angels so she would be free. Her technique was superb and she put real emotion into the part.