Review: West Side Story

West Side Story

02/01/14 – Palace Theatre, Manchester

Joey McKneely’s vibrant adaptation of Jerome Robbins’ fresh take on Romeo and Juliet is a joyful pastime.  The two New York gangs, the Jets and the Sharks take the deep resentment and bitterness to a new level as they glide, spin and jump around the stage in their designated groups.  The enlightening ensemble pieces were the best parts for me, with the separate unison from the boys and the girls almost faultless.  The stage also comes alive when it is bursting with dancing couples, once again in competition to be better than their rivals.

The highlight by far was America, where the Puerto Rican ladies showed off their fine dancing ability and personalities.  The thrilling choreography is successful throughout in telling the classic story without being literal; graceful fights, elegant rumbles and charming gang challenges somehow still deliver the raw rage and brutality needed to convey the plot.  Simple gestures such as a stomp of the foot or a sharp snap of the fingers go hand in hand with the spectacular score to enhance Robbins’ narrative.

One of the much-loved numbers in West Side Story, Somewhere was unfortunately disappointing.  A brave new approach resulted in the whole cast coming onstage in clichéd white costumes to create this perfect world for the main characters.  The partner work and lifts for the booming notes of ‘Somewhere…Someday…Somehow’ were beautiful, but the rest felt naïve and dated – one is left wondering why this celebrated scene wasn’t left in the capable hands and voices of Maria and Tony.

A failed utopia cast aside, the overall production was a show-stopping affair taking the audience on an emotional journey.  The drama of young love, the family feuds, the highlighted American social problems, the testosterone fuelled fights, the heartbreak of loss – it is all purely experienced.  Complimented with the impressive choreography, this is probably the best dance musical I’ve seen in years.

Happy New Year!!

I'd just like to say a very HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of my followers and readers.  May this year bring exciting things for us all!  If you really want something, then go out and make it happen because you never know if this year may be your last. Life is too short to not do what makes you happy.

I'd also like to give you a sneak preview into what I have in store on ReviewCentral this year.

Yes, my travelling adventure may be over (for now) but the blog will live on, and there will be lots of new posts on a variety of topics, including....

• Reviews: I will be reviewing anything and everything around the Manchester area, starting with West Side Story tonight at The Palace Theatre.
• A Day in The Life of...: I'm starting a new guest post series, as although I love interviewing people it can get a bit dull for both parties.  A Day in the Life of a specific person is much more intimate and interesting, and allows the guest to have more control over the article.  The first life to be invaded will be professional dancer Luke Jessop, who is currently part of Wim Vandeykeybus' Ultima Vez company.
• Wanderlust: I can't seem to leave the travelling adventurer behind me.  As much as Rik and I would love to set off on the road again, we have a wedding to save for now! However, that doesn't stop me writing about my travel wishlist and reminiscing about our adventures.

See you soon! x

Travel Blog: THE END.

I can't believe this is it.....
the end of my travel blog, which has lasted over a year! :(

I thought I better finish it before the end of 2013, so here is a quick summary of our adventures....

It all started at Manchester Airport....

From there we had a lot of travelling to do.  All in all we endured:

13 flights

19 boat rides

1 campervan rental

Too many buses and trains to count.

We had many different sleeping arrangements over our trip.  Mine included:

5 beachside huts

1 jail

3 nice hotels

1 friend's floor
1 tent

1 yacht

1 grumpy relative's spare room

2 swags
1 sleeper train

1 rural lodge
1 night boat

1 gorgeous flat to call my own

Too may hostels to begin to count.

Once in Australia, I went through 5 jobs to keep me alive.  Throughout our journey, we experienced extreme weather including tornadoes in New Zealand and floods in Australia.  The bar where I worked at the time was situated on the riverbank, and I spent a week of the Summer clearing sandbags instead of sunbathing. We also chose one of the coldest places in Aus to spend the Winter - good choice.  Of course, looking back there are many things like that I could change, but we still had the most amazing time even if our planning wasn't exactly thorough.

Our journey, expanding over 5 countries, crossed paths with an abundance of wildlife, from monkeys and elephants in Thailand, to seals and dolphins in New Zealand - not forgetting my favourite marsupial, the koalas in Australia and touching a shark in the waters of Fiji.

Aside from all the facts, I returned a different person; with a tattoo, eating new cuisines, and with an array of new friends for life. I now have friends all over the world, including Irish friends, Americans, Taiwanese, Australians, Canadians - and even Germans. (Yes that one's a shocker!)

The most difficult part for me is choosing a favourite place I visited, or even a few favourite places.  All anybody asks me about travelling, is "Where was your favourite place?" But it's just an impossible question to answer, when I loved every single city, island or town for totally different reasons.

Rik and I had the pleasure of taking a video camera on our adventure, and I'm so happy for it now! I tend to have a terrible memory, the sights and sounds of my first destination are already hard to recall.  So thankfully, we have memories forever in our videos and photographs.  Here is our little montage:

Thank you so much to those of you who have been following our journey from the beginning.  Hopefully the adventures are not over! As you know, we got engaged while we were travelling, and instead of planning the wedding I'm too caught up planning the extra long honeymoon travel experience.  I'm already feeling travelsick and long to get back on the road again! Feel free to ask me any questions you may have or contact me if you'd like advice for your own trip of a lifetime.

Jade x

Time to wrap this up with a few inspiring travel quotes :)

This may have to be tattoo number 2.....

Ignore the '22' part.....age should never hold you back from going anywhere or doing what you want.

Travel Blog: Leaving Melbourne

10/10/13 - THE END

The end of our big trip crept up on me stealthily.
After flying back to Melbourne from Fiji, we returned to a completely empty, uninviting flat.  Saying goodbye to our new family of friends was hard, but it was equally as heartbreaking to turn our backs on that beautiful city.  It felt like home from day one; welcoming us into its grid of cultural variety, greeting us with seasons and a fresh, cold wind.  Although the weather was terrible most of the time as we lived in Melbourne throughout Winter, I still fell in love with the little-Europe-in-Oz.

There are interesting things everywhere, I've never known a city to be so vibrant in every single suburb.  One thing Melbourne is infamous for is its array of street art, so this post is an homage to this city's creativity - noticed by every tourist.  Here is a selection of my favourite graffiti spots and other artwork I stumbled across: 

Melbourne, we will miss you terribly but will definitely grace you with our presence once again. x

Blogging for The Lowry

Apologies for interrupting the travel blog, unfortunately there's not many posts left to do anyway :(

I have been back in the UK for well over a month now, and still struggling to adapt! Only new things seems to excite me now, and there aren't many new experiences for me in my home city of Manchester. 

I think that's probably one of the reasons I enjoy watching live dance and theatre, especially premieres - most of the time they bring something new to the table.  I was selected by The Lowry Theatre to review the first night of Chelsea Hotel by Earthfall.  This was exciting, my first press freebies (That was something new for me, hurrah)

To be honest I wasn't overly impressed with this pioneering dance theatre company's production Chelsea Hotel. Having heard of them for years, throughout my dance training at university, I guess I'd built up my first time watching a live performance.  The problem is, I've matured watching modern contemporary choreographers such as Jasmin Vardimon and Hofesh Shechter, whose innovative choreography and emotive hold on an audience is profoud; and they were probably inspired by the likes of Earthfall and other physical theatre companies.  And Earthfall are sticking to their classic style, making me feel like I've been transported back in time watching their performances.

Take a look at my review on the Lowry's blog.

Travel Blog: Fiji

8/10/13 - Fiji, Viti Levu

After returning to the mainland, we embarked on the second half of our Fiji trip - the 4 day Feejee Experience.  They do lots of different packages, mainly aimed at backpackers for different amounts of time.  As we were short on time, we just chose a 4 day pass that drove right around the main island.

The main highlights of this trip were: 

Sandboarding

Jungle trekking


And, of course, the village visit to a school:


I had anticipated doing some form of volunteering on this gap year, with children or animals, but unfortunately it never happened.  That is why I was so excited to visit a small school in Fiji! Unfortunately we couldn't stay for long, so we didn't have an opportunity to help in the classroom or teach.  We gave them a group donation though, and the teachers were thrilled with it.  The school children performed lots of songs and dances for us, and we were treated like VIP's. It was such a memorable moment for all of us on the tour.

Here's the boys performing a traditional song and dance for us

Travel Blog: Fiji

30/9/13

I don't know where to start because it has been quite eventful already, and we are still only a few days in.

• We have met a French guy called Pierre. (Yes, really)
• We have stayed on deserted islands that are more remote than you could ever imagine.  The first island we stayed on looked like the island from Lost.  And it kind of felt like we were stranded on the fantasy island too! It was back to basics - only 8-10 other guests, from all over the world, and we ate fish that had been caught fresh by the Fijian staff.  Spear fishing too, not the lazy modern way!  It also felt like we were staying on some form of retreat or ashram, as meal times were so structured.  The sound of drums summoned us three times a day, to eat whatever the locals had made for us. (Heads up - a LOT of pineapple).
• And yesterday, whilst lying in my hammock on our beautiful, secluded beach, Rik asked me to marry him.  I wasn't sure if he was serious at first, but it turns out he was and now we are engaged.(!!!!!!!!)

• Also, we touched a shark!! Maybe it was only a small, harmless, reef shark but STILL. I touched a shark. Unfortunately no photos, because as I have mentioned before, I was silly enough not to invest in a waterproof camera.

So I'm lost for words in Fiji! As I write this, I am at our second shipwreck island of the Yasawas, just outside our beach bure watching the sunset over the calming ocean.  It could definitely be labelled paradise.

We also have this amazing little bathroom in our bure. It is outside, at the back of the hut, almost like a shower garden. I absolutely LOVE it. I would love it slightly more if it dribbled hot water instead of freezing, but hey. I'm not a complainer.

Our beautiful shower garden!! Getting naked outside was an experience

There isn't much else to report on from the first half of our Fiji trip.  It is so relaxed, but for some of our travelling companions "Fiji Time" got very irritating.  Apart from lots of snorkelling, and exploring a cave, there is not much else to do but relax.  Or this kind of malarkey:

For more exciting and adventurous travel, check out my next blog post with the Feejee Experience.  Our main activity on the islands was climbing the huge mountain behind one of our resorts.  It was the hardest trek of my whole year - I was not expecting it in Fiji! New Zealand, or Australia, yes.  But no, it was this rock climbing affair, 900m above sea level that nearly defeated me.  Nevertheless, as always, the view was more than rewarding.