sun 02/11/2025

dance

Carlos Acosta: A Celebration, Royal Albert Hall

theartsdesk

Ballet superstar Carlos Acosta returned to the Royal Albert Hall this week, accompanied by the youthful dancers of his company Acosta Danza, for yet another sho

Read more...

Strictly goes to the Proms

Marianka Swain

The glitterball has landed. After loaning out Proms queen Katie Derham to Strictly Come Dancing last series, where she hauled comedy pro Anton Du Beke all the way to the final, the Beeb’s Saturday-night juggernaut returned the favour by waltzing a ballroom troupe over to the Albert Hall. Would it be a perfect partnership or murder on the dancefloor? 

Read more...

Performers: A Season in Photographs

theartsdesk

A stage performance in any art form communicates through sound and motion. A photographer's task is to capture the dramatic experience in the silence and stillness of the 2D image. In the worlds of ballet and opera, none does it with more commitment to truth and drama than the great Laurie Lewis. To mark the end of the 2012-13 season, we present 25 images selected by the photographer exclusively for theartsdesk.

Read more...

Production Gallery: The Royal Ballet's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Charlotte MacMillan

Charlotte MacMillan took photographs of the first new full-length ballet at The Royal Ballet for 16 years, Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which premiered last night at the Royal Opera House. Designs are by Bob Crowley, lighting by Natasha Katz, projection design by Jon Driscoll and Gemma Carrington. Music by Joby Talbot, scenario by Nicholas Wright.

Read more...

Photo Gallery: Ballet in Focus

Fisun Güner

A display of rarely seen photographs of key ballet dancers from the start of the 20th century goes on display at the National Portrait Gallery. The gallery holds the largest surviving archive of the once-fashionable Bassano Studio, London, including portraits of Anna Pavlova and the great classical dancers Adeline Genée (6), Phyllis Bedells (main) and Ninette de Valois (2), founder of the Royal Ballet.

Read more...

Production Gallery: Russell Maliphant's AfterLight

Charlotte MacMillan

New photographs by Charlotte MacMillan of Russell Maliphant's expanded Afterlight, a mesmerising new dancework premiered at Sadler's Wells this week.

Read more...

Photo Gallery: Bolshoi Ballet class by Charlotte MacMillan

theartsdesk

Charlotte MacMillan took these exclusive pictures last week of the Bolshoi corps de ballet in class. The pictures brought back memories of his training to English National Ballet's Kirov-trained principal dancer Dmitri Gruzdyev, as he prepares to perform Michael Corder's Cinderella at the Coliseum next month.

Read more...

Production Gallery: The Royal Ballet's Asphodel Meadows

theartsdesk

Johan Persson took the photographs for The Royal Ballet's world premiere of Liam Scarlett's Asphodel Meadows, which opened on 5 May 2010. Read theartsdesk's review of the ballet here.

Read more...

Design gallery: Three Nutcrackers

Ismene Brown

Is the look to be Beckmann, Bergman or Nicky Haslam? To accompany the interviews with Nutcracker designers elsewhere, here are three very different design portfolios tackling the eternal magic of this favourite ballet with unexpected reference points. Sketches by John F Macfarlane for Birmingham Royal Ballet, Antony McDonald for Scottish Ballet and Gerald Scarfe for English National Ballet are seen with production stills alongside.

Read more...

Production Gallery: The Royal Ballet's Mayerling

Charlotte MacMillan

Charlotte MacMillan photographed the Royal Ballet's Mayerling, with choreography by Kenneth MacMillan, music by Franz Liszt, and designs by Nicholas Georgiadis, which opens at the Royal Opera House on Wednesday.

Read more...

Pages

latest in today

'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages... ...
Music Reissues Weekly: Hawkwind - Hall of the Mountain Grill

Issued in September 1974, Hall of the Mountain Grill was Hawkwind’s fifth LP. The follow-up to 1973’s live double album...

The Line of Beauty, Almeida Theatre review - the 80s revisit...

Alan Hollinghurst's 2004 novel The Line of Beauty finds a distinct beauty all its own in this long-awaited Almeida Theatre premiere...

Down Cemetery Road, Apple TV review - wit, grit and a twisty...

Back in 2003, when Mick Herron was a humble sub-editor, his...

The Railway Children, Glyndebourne review - right train, wro...

If the distance from Festen to The Railway Children looks like a long stretch of track, remember that Mark-Anthony Turnage’s...

Robin Holloway: Music's Odyssey review - lessons in com...

Robin Holloway is a composer and, until his retirement in 2011, don at Cambridge, where he taught many of the leading British composers of the...

'Everybody Scream': Florence + The Machine's...

If you were looking for the most perfectly brooding autumnal album this year, Florence Welch and her Machine may have been one...

Wendy & Peter Pan, Barbican Theatre review - mixed bag o...

On paper, this RSC revival of Ella Hickson’s 2013 adaptation sounds just the ticket: a feminist spin on the familiar JM Barrie story,...

Bugonia review - Yorgos Lanthimos on aliens, bees and conspi...

“How can you tell she’s an alien?” asks Don (Aidan Delbis, an impressive neuro-divergent actor) of his cousin Teddy (the excellent Jesse Plemons...