Dance reviews, news & interviews
Ashton Celebrated, Royal Ballet review - peerless delights from the master step-smith
Monday, 17 June 2024![Primrose path: Artists of the Royal Ballet in 'Les Rendezvous', Frederick Ashton's first significant ballet, made in 1933](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/first_and_second_tier/public/mastimages/Artists%20of%20The%20Royal%20Ballet%20in%20Les%20Rendezvous%2C%20The%20Royal%20Ballet%20%C2%A92024%20Tristram%20Kenton.jpg?itok=Q36yOFzB)
Launching a four-year global project to proclaim the genius of Frederick Ashton might seem unnecessary. His work is the bedrock of what’s widely known as The English Style and rarely absent from any British ballet season, whether at the Royal Ballet (for whom he created much of it), or elsewhere.
Rocio Molina, Sadler's Wells Flamenco Festival review - mystery and dark magic, with a giggle
Monday, 10 June 2024![Queen of the Night: Rocio Molina, the only flamenco dancer ever to win a prize at the Venice Biennale](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/first_and_second_tier/public/mastimages/AL%20FONDO%20RIELA%20%C2%A9%20O%CC%81scar%20Romero%20%C2%B7%20005_0.jpg?itok=Ob0NYRmc)
Success in running a large and expanding dance-house enterprise requires knowing when to play safe and when to play with fire, trusting that your audience will come with you.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
Footnote: a brief history of dance in Britain
Britain's reputation as one of the world's great ballet nations has been swiftly won, as home-grown classical ballet started here only in the 1930s. Yet within 30 years the Royal Ballet was recognised as the equal of the greatest and oldest companies in France, Russia or Italy. Now the extraordinary range in British dance from classical ballet to contemporary dance-theatre, from experimental new choreography in small spaces to mass arena-ballet spectaculars, can't be matched in the US or Russia, where nothing like the Arts Council subsidy system exists to encourage new work.
Fonteyn_OndineWhile foreign stars have long been adored by British audiences, from Anna Pavlova and Rudolf Nureyev to Sylvie Guillem, the British ballet and dance movements were offspring of the movement towards a national subsidised theatre. This was first activated in the Thirties by Lilian Baylis and Ninette de Valois in a tie-up between the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells, and led to the founding of what became the Royal Ballet, English National Opera and the National Theatre. From 1926 Marie Rambert's Ballet Club operated out of the tiny Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill, a creative crucible producing early stars such as choreographer Frederick Ashton and ballerina Alicia Markova and which eventually grew into Ballet Rambert and today's Rambert Dance. From all these roots developed Sadlers Wells Theatre Ballet (now Birmingham Royal Ballet), London Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet), and Western Theatre Ballet which became Scottish Ballet.
Margot Fonteyn's dominance in the post-war ballet scene (pictured in Ashton's Ondine) and the granting of a Royal charter in 1956 to the Royal Ballet and its school brought the "English ballet" world renown, massively increased when Soviet star Rudolf Nureyev defected from the Kirov Ballet in 1961 and formed with Fonteyn the most iconic partnership in dance history.
The Sixties ballet boom was complemented by the introduction of American abstract modern dance to London, and a mushrooming of independent modern choreographers drawing on fashion and club music (Michael Clark), art and classical music (Richard Alston), movies (Matthew Bourne) and science (Wayne McGregor). Hip-hop, salsa and TV dance shows have recently given a dynamic new twist to contemporary dance. The Arts Desk offers the fastest overnight reviews and ticket booking links for last night's openings, as well as the most thoughtful close-up interviews with major creative figures and performers. Our critics include Ismene Brown, Judith Flanders, David Nice, Matt Wolf and James Woodall
latest in today
![A conversation across time: Meshell Ndegeocello](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/No%20More%20Water.jpg?itok=24wDA3py)
Meshell Ndegeocello's groundbreaking new album No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin takes you on a musical journey which defies...
![Mid-life crisis: Natalie Portman as Maddie Schwartz](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Natalie%20MAIN.jpg?itok=IbhoIU1e)
Laura Lippman’s source novel for Apple’s new drama became a New York Times bestseller when it was published in 2019, and director Alma Har’el’s...
![A break in the clouds for Glen Powell as Tyler Owens and Daisy Edgar-Jones as Kate Cooper](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Glen%20%26%20Daisy.jpg?itok=zmHD64Ru)
“Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!” urged King Lear, accompanied by the Fool, on the blasted heath. But that’s not quite snappy enough for the...
![Monse, a keen bareback rider, with her horse in 'The Echo'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/EL%20ECO_Still_1%20copy.jpg?itok=-Heu9dmB)
El Eco (The Echo) is a small village in Mexico’s central...
![](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/896350.jpg?itok=6_LblfjO)
In a discussion recently a friend compared generative...
![Uphill struggle: Deniz Celilolglu as Samet, Musab Ekici as Kenan and Merve Dizdar as Nuray](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/LesHerbesSeches_Stills02A%CC%82%C2%A9NuriBilgeCeylan.jpg?itok=tILsz9d3)
Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s latest is a test of stamina: a 3hr 15min study of a man paralysed...
![](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/strangenesse1.jpg?itok=XXcoA2Yu)
Something of a jazz supergroup this one: with drum virtuoso, the...
![Latonia Moore, Karen Cargill, Ryan Bancroft, SeokJong Baek, Soloman Howard and the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Prom%20Verdi%202.jpg?itok=YZoGmn17)
Returning after ten months to the unique vasts of Albert’s colosseum, especially for a Verdi Requiem as powerful as this and a packed hall, felt...
![As ever, looking the part](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Screenshot%202024-07-22%20201257.png?itok=2zJqbqUe)
Dave Clarke (b. 1968) is, arguably, Britain’s greatest techno...
![The maestro composes: Constantine Akritides as Puccini](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Web-TheButterflyHouse-Credit-SteveGregson-132%20%281200x800%29.jpg?itok=vm22KyxW)
For 50 years Clonter Opera, the song-on-the-farm project in rural Cheshire, has been encouraging would-be...