dance reviews, news & interviews

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R:Evolution, English National Ballet, Sadler's Wells review - a vibrant survey of ballet in four acts

Jenny Gilbert |

As the new season opens, confidence is high at ENB, just as it should be given the roaring success of recent programmes featuring the latest work of iconoclast William Forsythe. His classical steps set to disco raised the roof.

Like Water for Chocolate, Royal Ballet review - splendid dancing and sets, but there's too much plot

Helen Hawkins
Christopher Wheeldon has mined a new seam of narrative pieces for the Royal Ballet, having started out as a supreme practitioner of the abstract.…

iD-Reloaded, Cirque Éloize, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury review - attitude, energy and invention

Jenny Gilbert
It was the absence of performing animals that defined it in the 1980s, but contemporary circus has come a long way since. Cirque Éloize, a smallish…

How to be a Dancer in 72,000 Easy Lessons, Teaċ Daṁsa review - a riveting account of a life in dance

Jenny Gilbert
Anyone who has followed the trajectory of choreographer-director Michael Keegan-Dolan and his West Kerry-based company Teaċ Daṁsa (House of…

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A Single Man, Linbury Theatre review - an anatomy of melancholy, with breaks in the clouds

Jenny Gilbert
Ed Watson and Jonathan Goddard are extraordinary in Jonathan Watkins' dance theatre adaptation of Isherwood's novel

Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby, Rambert, Sadler's Wells review - exciting dancing, if you can see it

Helen Hawkins
Six TV series reduced to 100 minutes' dance time doesn't quite compute

Giselle, National Ballet of Japan review - return of a classic, refreshed and impeccably danced

Helen Hawkins
First visit by Miyako Yoshida's company leaves you wanting more

Quadrophenia, Sadler's Wells review - missed opportunity to give new stage life to a Who classic

Helen Hawkins
The brilliant cast need a tighter score and a stronger narrative

The Midnight Bell, Sadler's Wells review - a first reprise for one of Matthew Bourne's most compelling shows to date

Jenny Gilbert
The after-hours lives of the sad and lonely are drawn with compassion, originality and skill

Ballet to Broadway: Wheeldon Works, Royal Ballet review - the impressive range and reach of Christopher Wheeldon's craft

Jenny Gilbert
The title says it: as dancemaker, as creative magnet, the man clearly works his socks off

The Forsythe Programme, English National Ballet review - brains, beauty and bravura

Jenny Gilbert
Once again the veteran choreographer and maverick William Forsythe raises ENB's game

Sad Book, Hackney Empire review - What we feel, what we show, and the many ways we deal with sadness

Jenny Gilbert
A book about navigating grief feeds into unusual and compelling dance theatre

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

Helen Hawkins
A triumphant triple bill

Romeo and Juliet, Royal Ballet review - Shakespeare without the words, with music to die for

Jenny Gilbert
Kenneth MacMillan's first and best-loved masterpiece turns 60

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Light of Passage, Royal Ballet review - Crystal Pite’s cosmic triptych powers back

David Nice
Total music theatre takes us from the hell of exile to separation at heaven’s gates

Vollmond, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch + Terrain Boris Charmatz, Sadler's Wells review - clunkily-named company shows its lighter side

Florence Roberts
A new generation of dancers brings zest, humour and playfulness to late Bausch

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

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