mon 29/09/2025

dance

Voices of America, English National Ballet review - a punchy programme of contemporary ballet

Hanna Weibye

A new William Forsythe ballet is quite a coup for English National Ballet; the choreographer hasn't made a piece in Britain in 20 years.

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Sutra, Sadler’s Wells review – a masterpiece 10 years on

Sarah Kent

Sutra is back, 10 years after its premier at Sadler’s Wells. This is, in fact, the fourth time it has returned to London and such is the amazing popularity of this beguiling show that, in the past decade, it has been performed more than 200 times in 66 cities in 33 countries. 

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Richard Alston, Mid Century Modern, Sadler's Wells review - a master choreographer clocks up 50 years

Jenny Gilbert

It took Richard Alston 10 years to start making dances to music. Until the late Seventies he preferred silence, or a Rolodex of scores that he swapped and switched. In this you might say he was a typical product of the time. The fact is more remarkable in relation to his later and more lasting status, for few would deny that Alston has for many years been the most musically astute choreographer working in Britain.

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Bernstein triple bill, Royal Ballet review - epic ambitions unfulfilled

Hanna Weibye

The Royal Ballet last night presented an evening of Bernstein-scored ballets, two of them premieres by Wayne McGregor and Christopher Wheeldon and the other a revival of Liam Scarlett's 2014...

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Macbeth, Wilton's Music Hall review - incisive and thrilling dance theatre

Jenny Gilbert

There’s more than a touch of vaunting ambition in the idea of turning the Scottish Play into dance theatre. Without spoken text, named scenes or even a printed synopsis, it falls to choreography and direction to speak for them all.

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Giselle, Royal Ballet review - beautiful dancing in a production of classic good taste

Hanna Weibye

The run of Giselle that opened at the Royal Opera House last night was completely sold out before it even started, and no wonder. Pair Sir Peter Wright's eerie production with some very fine casts and the reliable classiness of the Royal Ballet's corps de ballet and you have an enchanting package indeed.

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Song of the Earth/La Sylphide, English National Ballet review - sincerity and charm in a rewarding double bill

Hanna Weibye

The unifying theme of this new Coliseum double bill is death, but don’t let that put you off. Kenneth MacMillan’s Song of the Earth and August Bournonville’s La Sylphide may seem like odd bedfellows, but both are a great deal more uplifting than their plot summaries might suggest, and in the hands of English National Ballet the evening is joyous, even life-affirming.

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Best of 2017: Dance

theartsdesk

With forelock-tugging celebrations of a choreographer who died 25 years ago and a summer visit by the Mariinsky the highest-profile events in the calendar, 2017 may not be remembered as a vintage year for British dance.

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Cinderella, Sadler's Wells review - Matthew Bourne puts Cinderella through the Blitz

Jenny Gilbert

Even if Matthew Bourne were never to choreograph another step, he could fill theatres in perpetuity by rotating old stock. Cinderella, made in 1997, was the follow-up to his break-out hit Swan Lake but, never quite happy with it, he reworked it in 2010, replacing the musicians in the pit with a custom-made recording of an 82-piece orchestra.

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The Nutcracker, English National Ballet review - a thoroughly enchanting performance

Katherine Waters

The familiar doesn’t have to get old. Last night at the Coliseum there were children in the boxes, adults in the circle and grandparents in the stalls.

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