Matthew Paluch - Page 2

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.

Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland returns for a second block of shows at the Royal Ballet and Opera until June 28.

John Cranko's Onegin returns to the Royal Ballet and Opera stage for a second block of shows this season, and it's largely good news for all involved.

Ballet BC present a double bill at Sadler’s Wells with work by heavyweight contemporary dancemakers of the present day.

The dance world is all the richer for having different kinds of storytellers - no doubt. But equally, audience members will inevitably gravitate towards makers they feel a connection with. I should be clear - I don't connect with Cathy Marston’s take on narrative dance, or perhaps just Jane Eyre rather than her whole canon.

Considering Kenneth MacMillan’s production of Romeo and Juliet is 60 years old…it looks as fresh as a daisy. This is no mean feat. As when a company is familiar with a ballet it can become stale before you know it - but this absolutely isn't the case, so bravo to all involved.