wed 02/04/2025

Dance reviews, news & interviews

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Theartsdesk

It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.It followed some hectic and intensive months when a disparate and eclectic team of arts and culture writers went ahead with an ambitious plan – to launch a dedicated internet site devoted to coverage of the UK arts scene.

Balanchine: Three Signature Works, Royal Ballet review - exuberant, joyful, exhilarating

Helen Hawkins

Is the Royal Ballet a “Balanchine company”? The question was posed at a recent Insight evening to Patricia Neary, the tireless dancer who has helped keep the choreographer’s legacy intact since his death in 1983 and a living link with his teaching. Neary has been working with the RB as a coach, advisor and stager of Balanchine’s work for the past 57 years. “Oh yes!” was her emphatic answer.

Romeo and Juliet, Royal Ballet review -...

Jenny Gilbert

1965 was a year of change in Britain. It saw the abolition of the death penalty and the arrival of the Race Relations Act. It was the year of the...

Light of Passage, Royal Ballet review - Crystal...

David Nice

“Cry sorrow, sorrow, but let the good prevail”. The refrain of Aeschylus’s chorus near the start of the Oresteia is alive and honoured in Henryk...

Vollmond, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch +...

Florence Roberts

Imagine: you take your seat at the best restaurant in town, the waiter arrives with a flourish to fill your water glass, you hold it out and he pours...

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Phaedra + Minotaur, Royal Ballet and Opera, Linbury Theatre review - a double dose of Greek myth

Jenny Gilbert

Opera and dance companies share a theme in this terse but affecting double bill

Onegin, Royal Ballet review - a poignant lesson about the perils of youth

Jenny Gilbert

John Cranko was the greatest choreographer British ballet never had. His masterpiece is now 60 years old

Northern Ballet: Three Short Ballets, Linbury Theatre review - thrilling dancing in a mix of styles

Helen Hawkins

The Leeds-based company act as impressively as they dance

Best of 2024: Dance

Jenny Gilbert

It was a year for visiting past glories, but not for new ones

Nutcracker, English National Ballet, Coliseum review - Tchaikovsky and his sweet tooth rule supreme

Jenny Gilbert

New production's music, sweets, and hordes of exuberant children make this a hot ticket

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, New Adventures, Sadler's Wells review - 30 years on, as bold and brilliant as ever

Helen Hawkins

A masterly reinvention has become a classic itself

Ballet Shoes, Olivier Theatre review - reimagined classic with a lively contemporary feel

Helen Hawkins

The basics of Streatfield's original aren't lost in this bold, inventive production

Cinderella, Royal Ballet review - inspiring dancing, but not quite casting the desired spell

Helen Hawkins

A fairytale in need of a dramaturgical transformation

First Person: singer-songwriter Sam Amidon on working in Dingle with Teaċ Daṁsa on 'Nobodaddy'

Sam Amidon

Michael Keegan-Dolan’s mind-boggling total work of art arrives at Sadlers Wells this week

Akram Khan, GIGENIS, Sadler’s Wells review - now 50, Khan returns to his roots

Jenny Gilbert

The dancer-choreographer goes epic in a show that unites South Asian dance styles

Maddaddam, Royal Ballet review - superb dancing in a confusing frame

Helen Hawkins

Wayne McGregor's version of Margaret Atwood's dystopia needs a clearer map

Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring/common ground[s], Sadler’s Wells review - raw and devastating

Jenny Gilbert

Returning dancers from 13 African countries deliver celebrated vision with blistering force

Legacy, Linbury Theatre review - an exceptional display of black dance prowess

Jenny Gilbert

An all-too-fleeting celebration of black and brown ballet talent that demands a reprise

Encounters, Royal Ballet review - exciting mixed bill with a gem of a premiere

Helen Hawkins

Pam Tanowitz's latest piece is a stunner that larkily subverts the rules

National Ballet of Canada, Sadler's Wells review - see this, and know what dance can do

Jenny Gilbert

Yet again, Crystal Pite proves herself a ferocious creative force, alongside fellow Canadian exports James Kudelka and Emma Portner

Nobodaddy, Teaċ Daṁsa, Dublin Theatre Festival review - supernatural song and dance odyssey

David Nice

Michael Keegan-Dolan’s genius guides us through death, separation and loss

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Royal Ballet review - big, bold and ultimately brash

Jenny Gilbert

It may be box-office gold, but Christopher Wheeldon's adaptation fails to find a beating heart down the rabbit hole

Resurgence, London City Ballet, Sadler’s Wells review - the phoenix rises yet again

Jenny Gilbert

A new 14-strong company reviving a much-loved name is taking ballet to smaller theatres

The Mad Hatter's Tea Party, ZooNation, Linbury Theatre review - a joyous celebration of differentness

Jenny Gilbert

Kate Prince's hip hop take on Lewis Carroll is energetic, charming and moving by turns

Ballet Nights #006, Cadogan Hall review - a mixed bag of excellence

Jenny Gilbert

Gala enterprise, 12 months on, will be a stayer if it keeps up this level of excitement

theartsdesk Q&A: Nina Ananiashvili, founder of the State Ballet of Georgia

Ismene Brown

Bolshoi superstar who made her name in London returns with a new generation

Ashton Celebrated, Royal Ballet review - peerless delights from the master step-smith

Jenny Gilbert

A delicious triple bill kicks off a worldwide Fred-fest

Rocio Molina, Sadler's Wells Flamenco Festival review - mystery and dark magic, with a giggle

Jenny Gilbert

Annual Spanish showcase opens with a dancer intent on subversion by edgy games

The Winter's Tale, Royal Ballet review - what a story, and what a way to tell it!

Jenny Gilbert

A compelling case for ROH's ballet-friendly rebrand

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

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