Matthew Paluch

Considering Ballet Black has been around for 24 years, it seems unbelievable that the current double bill Shadows is also a Sadler's Wells debut. Unfortunately it isn't their strongest work to date, choreographically speaking.

When a night is all about the music, and the music isn't for you, things aren't going to go smoothly. A case in point is Marking Time at Sadler’s Wells. The triple bill uses and celebrates the work of composer Nico Muhly, and features choreography by Jules Cunningham, Maud Le Pladec and Michael Keegan-Dolan.

The Royal Ballet season continues with Perspectives: Balanchine, Marston, Peck. A triple bill that will supposedly “ignite the imagination” - stir, perhaps; ignite, not quite.

Sharon Eyal and her S-E-D Dance Company return to Sadler's Wells with a UK premiere of INTO THE HAIRY, but if honest, I've definitely seen the material before. The programme info is clear; “parts of the creation were originally created in the frame of THIS IS NOT A LOVE SHOW (January 2022)”, the world premiere was at Montpellier Danse in June 2023, and I undoubtedly saw swathes of the material in R.O.S.E at Sadler’s Wells East in July this year.

What did our critic think of JOBURG BALLET - COMMUNION OF LIGHT at Royal Ballet And Opera: Linbury Theatre?

Normally all we see are signs confirming no photography or filming at the theatre, but Elena Antoniou wants you to do the exact opposite during her work LANDSCAPE. The piece was part of the Dance Umbrella festival and was performed for two nights in the Assembly Hall at Shoreditch Town Hall. 

Dance Umbrella - the contemporary dance festival - started in 1978 and continues its mission today. One can always expect the unexpected…however, Sunday Shorts - “a screening of short films that draw on global perspectives and have movement at their heart” was far from what I'd hoped it would be.

The Royal Ballet 25/26 season continues with Black History Month Draft Works, this year curated by principal dancer Marcelino Sambé. Sambé, and producer Julia Gillespie have invited five female, black choreographers to either create, or show existing work for two performances in the Clore Studio.

Narrative ballet is hard, so anyone willing to go there deserves a medal regardless of the outcome. The Royal Ballet (mainstage) season opened last night with Christopher Wheeldon's 2022 Like Water for Chocolate. Based on the 1989 Laura Esquivel novel of the same name, the ballet is fundamentally a love story, and includes all the trials and tribulations that often come with it - with a heavy dose of mysticism and culinary explorations.

London City Ballet return for their second season with another mixed bill, and the results are also mixed. Director Christopher Marney has chosen the repertoire well, finding chamber-sized works to fit the company of 14, however two out of the four works presented are weak choreographically.

It's fair to say general consensus is never work with your family, yet Amit Noy is doing the exact opposite in his piece A Big Big Room Full of Everybody's Hope. Marseille-based performer and dance maker Noy makes his Sadler’s Wells choreographic debut with the UK premiere of A Big Big Room Full of Everybody’s Hope in the Lilian Baylis Studio this October. For this production, Noy brings together three generations of his own family to explore the memory that is held between bodies and how we process trauma. 

Experiencing art in a former car park is never going to get old - cold perhaps - so I was glad to return to Bold Tendencies to sample their 2025 season titled Déjà vu.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it - but by all means develop it into a one-show-does-all situation, which is very much the case for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe currently showing at Sadler’s Wells. The production is geared towards a younger audience, however anyone who goes won't be able to escape the magic and undeniably high level of the entire production.

Current geopolitics mean the Royal Ballet and Opera no longer welcomes the big Russian companies - Bolshoi and Mariinsky - for summer seasons when the resident company take their annual break. This of course leaves room for others…so welcome the National Ballet of Japan (for the first time), with their director's version of the 19th century key work, Giselle.

What did our critic think of SONGS OF THE BULBUL at Sadler’s Wells East?

Iain Mackay has devised a successful programme which shows the strength and breadth of the school, its current student body and the legacy that underpins the institution as we know it.

Audience members got two for the price of one with English National Ballet School and Rambert School collaborating on a joint show for the continuing Next Generation Festival at the Royal Ballet and Opera's Linbury Theatre.

Some matinées can feel endless…and I'm sorry to say that was the case with the Paris Opera Junior Ballet. Performing as part of the ongoing Next Generation Festival at the Royal Ballet and Opera's Linbury Theatre, the recently formed (2024) troupe brought a quad bill of mixed works - both in style and success.

It's so refreshing to get a new proposition, and that was the case with The Youth Company of the Finnish National Ballet at the Next Generation Festival at the Royal Ballet and Opera Linbury Theatre.