Matthew Paluch

Sir Wayne McGregor was appointed Resident Choreographer of the Royal Ballet in 2006, the first from a contemporary dance background, and here we are 20 years later acknowledging that fact with a triple bill of his work for the company called Alchemies.

The Linbury Theatre at the Royal Ballet and Opera felt transformed last night for the opening of International Draft Works 2026 - but not always by the choreography.

Mayerling is an experience - let no one tell you otherwise. Kenneth MacMillan’s 1978 ballet delves into the true story of the 19th century Austro-Hungarian court, and specifically the experience of the heir apparent; Crown Prince Rudolf.

What makes work interesting? What it is? How it makes you feel? That's the million dollar question I suppose…and one that Alexander Whitley's work continues to ask. Whitley has just opened a double bill of new work at Sadler’s Wells East called The Rite of Spring / Mirror, with both pieces looking at the human relationship with AI - or so we're told in the programme.

Sci-fi, like most things, is an acquired taste, and not something you often find related to dance. Enter The Coronet Theatre for once again pushing the boundaries of avant-garde programming. Last And First Men (2024) by Neon Dance is a multimedia work that definitely gets the brain working in pre-performance research and post-show afterthought. The live experience itself is a slightly confusing one in relation to content, intention and cohesion.

Giselle is a difficult ballet to get right. The balance between the “reality” of Act 1 and the Gothic otherworldlyness of Act 2 can be extremely hard to find, and the responsibility falls on all those involved.

Marcelino Sambé currently stars in the revival of Glen Tetley’s Pierrot Lunaire at the Royal Ballet and Opera's Linbury Theatre and is supported by a very strong cast of Mayara Magri and Matthew Ball. And an even stronger presence in the soprano Alexandra Lowe.

Sir Wayne McGregor is a titan of the dance world - and a divisive one. For some he's the next Messiah, for others, the Emperor's new clothes. Normally I'm veering towards the latter, but his 2015 triptych Woolf Works is perhaps his most successful work to date.

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.