UK / WEST END DANCE NEWS COVERAGE

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 ra...

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. ...

It's a big deal to have an entire evening dedicated to your work, so kudos to Christopher Wheeldon, who's achieved this accolade in his early 50s. Wheeldon deserves recognition, as he's a renowned choreographer of skill and range with an ever-increasing canon. And Ballet to Broadway: Wheeldon Works...

Collaborations are very now, and the Rambert x (LA)HORDE combination is a very worthwhile experiment. It brings together the UK's longest running contemporary dance company (with classical ballet beginnings) and one of France's most of the moment collectives (who also run the Ballet National de Mars...

Caroline Reece leads the company as the wicked Queen, but every moving part is in perfect sync...

Back in 2018, English National Ballet premiered Playlist (Track 1, 2) as part of their Voices of America programme. It was William Forsythe’s first new work for a British company in 20 years....

Choreography isn't easy, so choreographic platforms like International Draft Works (2025) are of the utmost importance. The movement lab returns to the Royal Ballet and Opera's Linbury Theatre for another insight into where present day choreography, of ballet companies, is going. ...

Forgive the urban legend - but they say no one does a funeral like the Irish…and WAKE by THISISPOPBABY, a UK debut now showing at the Peacock Theatre, would suggest this statement is indeed fact rather than hearsay. ...

The Royal Ballet and Opera launches its 2025/26 Season, unveiling an unforgettable programme of new commissions, world premieres and much-loved revivals alongside the first annual festival connecting the worlds of opera and technology. ...

The Royal Ballet continue The Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival with Balanchine: Three Signature Works. And the triple bill is also an excuse to celebrate Patricia Neary. Neary has been setting Balanchine works for 57 years, and been a member of the RB family for a long time. This pro...

The Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival continues at Sadler’s Wells with Outsider by Rachid Ouramdane & Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève. It's an experience which goes something like: Yes, no. And no. ...

The Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival continues across venues in London with the Lyon Opera Ballet presenting Merce Cunningham Forever. Cunningham needs no introduction…yet somehow we see very little of his work performed in the UK. It comes down to the Europeans (again) giving us an...

Oh Drum TAO…what to say? There's many good things about their show The Dream - but then there's some undeniable, less positive realities. The troop are from Oita, Japan. Formed 31 years ago, and has been on the road since. Bizarrely the current shows at the Peacock Theatre are their long-awaited Lon...

Galas aren't always the easiest of watches; endless pas de deux with bravado at the forefront of proceedings. That said - some rosters are too good to pass on…hence why I attended the Ballet Icons Gala 2025 at the London Coliseum on March 9th. ...

Natalia Osipova is not a dancer who likes to play by the rules. A dancer who never felt she fitted the mould of a perfect ballerina growing up in Russia where being long-limbed and tall was the expectation. These days, she’s a much loved Principal of the Royal Ballet, she only does the things she wa...

With NOW standing for many nows, thens, nowheres, future nows, past nows, and present nows, Jasmin Vardimon offers up revisited classic choreography fused with new material to create a beautiful and intense way to celebrate the company's 25th anniversary. Offering a window into the world through mov...

Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet continues to enjoy endless popularity, this being its third run by the Royal Ballet since 2019, but when the results are as good, there’s no reason why not. The depth and quality in the ranks was evident as the cast relished the challenges of the Covent Garde...

A work that uses the darkest of dark sets to shed light on the possibilities inherent in creative work, right here, right now...

February 2025 is the inaugural month of Sadler’s Wells East, London’s newest dance house with a 550-seat theatre, six dance studios, and a public performance space all under one roof. Dance has found a new home in East Bank, Stratford/London’s latest cultural and educational district, and Irish chor...

Sir David Bintley’s 2010 production of Cinderella has been long overdue an outing, and based on Wednesday’s opening night at Birmingham Hippodrome it is worth the wait. Thanks to Birmingham Royal Ballet’s fundraising efforts, the work now returns refreshed with restored costumes and a dazzling cast,...

Crystal Pite’s deeply moving work has themes of safe passage, displacement, community and mortality. Light of Passage, taken as a whole work with the three sections together, builds into a cohesive whole on the theme of who we are, where we are going, and what we feel. Although there are moments of...

Desperation, desire and dance in a drowned world...

In the new Sadler's Wells East venue, we are invited to observe and then enter the world of Club Groove in a pulsing, energetic, modern dance piece allowing the audience to mingle on the dance floor. The story is slight but the vibe is unmistakable. This production opens with a half-hour of powerhou...

The prizes continue at Sadler’s Wells with both a Bloom and Rose contender showing their work....

Competition in the Arts...now there's a loaded statement! Nonetheless, London has a new biennial event, or rather two, in the form of the Rose, and Bloom Prize. ...

Northern Ballet return to the Linbury Theatre for a triple bill of diverse works…or is it really a double bill with an additional third piece that's just five minutes long?! ...

The one thing we can always count on is a new reading of The Rite of Spring. Welcome to London the Dewey Dell, 2023 production at the Purcell Room on the Southbank. ...

Cranko took the predictable love melodrama - I want you, I don't, actually I do, well now I don’t - and turned it into a full-length, 3 act ballet. It divides people - some love, some less so. I definitely think it has strong moments throughout, and an overall, refined structure that can't be denied...

Light of Passage, Crystal Pite's meditation on safe movement, displacement, community and mortality, returns to the Main Stage of the Royal Opera House this February. ...

When I first saw The Nutcracker, I was convinced one of these things must be true: either someone had spiked my drink, the cast were all on drugs or we were all in some kind of baffling nightmare. No other explanation seemed plausible to my young mind....

Get a look behind the scenes of the pumpkin transformation from The Royal Ballet's Cinderella with Flys Assistant Manager Henry Desmond in the video here!...

James Hay and Bennett Gartside discuss their performance as the step-sisters in The Royal Ballet's Cinderella, in the video here! Performances run through 16 January....

Watch choreographer Lia Rodrigues discuss her dance performance Encantado, nominated for The Rose International Dance Prize in the video here. Go behind the scenes as Lia reflects on how creating the work during the pandemic influenced the piece....

It has been some time coming. For nearly 15 years English National Ballet enthusiastically performed Wayne Eagling’s Nutcracker, a traditional but rather staid production with a fuzzy narrative and lacking opportunity for the company to shine....

Director of The Royal Ballet, Kevin O’Hare has announced that Melissa Hamilton has been promoted to Principal Dancer, the highest rank in the Company, taking effect from 1 January 2025.  ...

Carlos Acosta's touring show is a delightful Christmassy treat...

Even 30 years after he created it, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake is still his defining production. Just why hasn’t he yet surpassed this masterpiece?...

In a season where theatres are filled with the usual hoary horde - here a Christmas Carol, there a Nutcracker or Messiah - the Royal Opera House deserves praise and maybe even a standing ovation for bringing back its Yuletide hit from 2022. Ben Duke’s Ruination (a co-production between the Royal Bal...

This year’s festive crowd pleaser from the Royal Ballet does not feature a growing Christmas tree nor a Kingdom of Sweets. Instead, an alternative is offered in the form of Frederick Ashton’s 1948 Cinderella, revived eighteen months ago after a lengthy absence and seen again now for the festive seas...

Billed as a 'weird and wonderful gathering', Eva Recacha's full-length work The Picnic is inspired by the painting The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, dating from the 15th century.  The Picnic is about pleasure, power, privilege, passion, playfulness and partying. It is as hedonisti...