Dance
Richly layered and intricate: Royal Ballet's The Dante Project reviewed
Where does the artist end and their work begin? Like 2015’s Woolf Works, Wayne McGregor’s new ballet swirls creator and…
Skirt-swishing and stomach-dropping: Ukrainian Ballet Gala, at Sadler's Wells, reviewed
Like musical supergroups and Olympic basketball teams, ballet galas tend to prize individual gifts over group cohesion. A recent one…
Swaggerific display of pumping chests and crotch-grabbing struts: NYDC's Speak Volumes reviewed
Last week I attended a dance performance in person for the first time since March last year. If you’d asked…
At last some genuine gala material: Royal Ballet's Balanchine and Robbins reviewed
The OED defines ‘gala’ as ‘a festive occasion’. In the ballet world this usually translates as a handful of stars,…
Crystal Pite tore the house down: Royal Opera's 21st-Century Choreographers reviewed
The choreographers called on to get the nation’s dancers back on to the stage have as much to say about…
An awesome and hilarious display: Rambert's Rooms reviewed
Social distancing continues to put the kibosh on large-scale productions, but Jo Stromgren has a nifty workaround in Rooms, which…
Zippy and stylish, with a glint of mischief: William Forsythe’s The Barre Project reviewed
In the early Noughties there was a Hollywood subgenre (by which I mean a few cult movies, each with terrible…
Gripping – if you skip the non-stop Yentobbing: Dancing Nation reviewed
Thank God for the fast-forward button. Sadler’s Wells had planned a tentative return to live performance last month but the…
I miss the faint hiss of a spinning foot: Royal Ballet – Live reviewed
Ballet lovers driven square-eyed by a drip feed of livestreaming and archive footage have been pining for the patter of…
Tranquil, silky and serene: Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Lazuli Sky reviewed
When Carlos Acosta was named artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet in January of this year, he announced ambitious plans…
The Royal Ballet's return was joyous – but the presenter was gushing and witless
Mothballed since March when it danced a farewell Swan Lake, the Royal Ballet made a triumphant and joyous return to…
Vigour and verve from a unique new Rite of Spring: Dancing at Dusk reviewed
Dancing at Dusk captures the final rehearsal of a new version of Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring. It’s only…
Sensual and silky: the Royal Ballet returns to Covent Garden
Wayne McGregor’s Morgen! and Frederick Ashton’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits are the first pieces of live dance — streamed…
The genius of Martha Graham
If eight weeks in lockdown have brought out my baser impulses (biscuits by the sleeve, total renunciation of waistbands), it’s…
Watching dance online is an advantage, not a concession: BalletBoyz – Deluxe reviewed
Another day in isolation, another bid to find joy in my lone state-sanctioned walk. (Pro tip: stay out longer than…
Another triumph for Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young at Sadler’s Wells
It must have been hard for Crystal Pite and Jonathan Young to live up to the success of 2016’s devastating…
A bruising encounter: Pina Bausch's Bluebeard reviewed
Pina Bausch’s best work always hovered between the familiar and the unknown. The late choreographer revelled in borders and thresholds,…
Chilling: Arthur Pita’s The Little Match Girl at Sadler’s Wells reviewed
Did your feet twitch? That’s the test of The Red Shoes. Did your toes point? Your ankles flex? Your arches…
How to make a Christmas ballet hit: behind the scenes at Scottish Ballet’s Snow Queen
Ballet, like bread sauce and green chartreuse, is often just a Christmas thing and the UK’s national companies plan their…
Unsettlingly faithful to the spirit of Schiele: Staging Schiele reviewed
‘Come up and see my Schieles.’ Those were the words that ended a friend’s fledgling relationship with an art collector.…
Manon can be magnificent, this one was merely meh
Manon: minx or martyr? There are two ways to play Kenneth MacMillan’s courtesan. Is Manon an ingénue, a guileless country…
Silly but stellar: Bolshoi Ballet’s Spartacus reviewed
It’s togas-a-go-go as the Bolshoi bring Yuri Grigorovich’s 1956 ballet Spartacus to the Royal Opera House. Oh dear, I did…
Pam Tanowitz’s Four Quartets is a revelation
T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets is full of music and movement. The players, such as they are, slip, slide, shake, tumble,…
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s #MeToo Medusa is a bad hair day from Hades
Medusa is the bad hair day from Hades. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s retelling of the Greek myth is frizzy, tangled and…
Still far from perfect but chaps will like it: Royal Ballet’s Frankenstein reviewed
Choreographer Richard Alston is now 70 and his latest outing at Sadler’s Wells is a greatest hits medley. As with…
