Dr Serena Trowbridge

Category: dance

  • The Red Shoes

    The Red Shoes

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    Serena Trowbridge
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    The 1948 Powell and Pressburger film The Red Shoes is one of my favourites: it’s about obsession with art, particularly ballet, and has amazing dancing, sets and dramatic scenes which are unforgettable. It gave me nightmares when I first saw it as a teenager but I have watched it many times since. I’ve even painted old…

  • Birmingham Royal Ballet’s The Nutcracker

    Birmingham Royal Ballet’s The Nutcracker

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    Serena Trowbridge
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    The Nutcracker always feels like the start of Christmas. Nothing can get me feeling festive like the wonderful party scene, the children, the toys, the amazing tree…and then the fairytale feeling of the second act. No matter how many times I see this ballet, I always love it. Birmingham Royal Ballet’s production, as ever, fulfils…

  • Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Giselle

    Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Giselle

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    Serena Trowbridge
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    This is my third Giselle in a year, and I think the one I liked best. Birmingham Royal Ballet’s production (Galina Samsova/David Bintley) holds on to the traditions, and sometimes the familiar is appealing. (I found Akram Khan’s production with English National Ballet intellectually interesting but not necessarily as enjoyable). It’s an odd ballet, really: one…

  • Romeo + Juliet

    Romeo + Juliet

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    Serena Trowbridge
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    Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures always provide an unexpected spin on a familiar story, and are always exciting. This is true of Romeo + Juliet (the plus sign in the title recalling Baz Lurhmann’s 1996 film, which I loved), where ‘Fair Verona’ becomes the ‘Verona Institute’, a secure place for young people with mental health problems – and…