Dancing Times, the world’s oldest monthly magazine devoted to all forms of dance, is to sell its extensive collection of photographs. The magazine, founded in 1910 by Philip J S Richardson, ceased publication in September 2022 following an unbroken 112-year history, and it now seeks to find a new home for the superb collection it amassed over the years. According to Sarah J Woodcock, former curator of photographs at London’s Theatre Museum, “It affords the widest coverage of 20th-century dance of any collection outside the Jerome Robbins Dance Division in New York or the Victoria and Albert Mu ..read more

The newly formed United Ukrainian Ballet is to perform at the London Coliseum from September 13 to 17 in a new production of Giselle specially made by choreographer Alexei Ratmansky. The company was created by dancers who fled Ukraine and have found a haven in The Hague – the city has given them the former Royal Conservatoire to live and work in, through the support of local business and the government. Ratmansky, himself a Ukrainian citizen, is donating his time to join the company to create this new interpretation of Giselle. The season will feature guest performances by Alina Cojocaru and K ..read more

Editorial and contents August 2022 There is a Spanish theme – quite unintentionally – to this latest issue of Dancing Times. Not only do we report back on the most recent Flamenco Festival held at Sadler’s Wells in London in late June and early July this year, which presented a host of excellent dancers and companies, but we also hear from the Spanish ballerina Tamara Rojo, who steps down from her position as artistic director of English National Ballet later in the year in order to take up the role of artistic director of San Francisco Ballet. On a sadder note, in Obituaries we pay tribute to ..read more

I first came across a copy of Dancing Times, fittingly, in a dance studio. My first ballet teacher kept a box of old copies at the back of her studio and the children learning their first steps would use the magazines as props during whatever little dances we were moulding our bodies around. I remember it took many weeks for me to build up the courage to ask to take a copy home, just to borrow, so I could wonder privately.  What I saw in the magazine beguiled me. The gods and goddesses wreathed over the magazine’s pages danced steps and made beautiful shapes that were nothing like what I ..read more

It fills me with great sadness to write that this will be the last-ever issue of Dancing Times. Despite valiantly trying to recoup our losses in revenue since the coronavirus pandemic, we have come to the sad conclusion we simply cannot continue. The magazine has been such a wonderful, powerful and level-headed voice for dance since it was first published by Phillip J S Richardson in 1910 that, to many people, it must have seemed invincible. It certainly did under my predecessor and friend, Mary Clarke, who championed dance in all its forms and was passionate about good dance criticism and pho ..read more

Dear friends and colleagues, It is with great sadness that we announce today that Dancing Times is to cease publication; September 2022 will be the last issue of the magazine.  Established in October 1910 by founder editor Phillip J S Richardson, Dancing Times has been published continuously every month, and has actively promoted and reported on dance in all its forms for 112 years.  Largely through the initiative of Richardson, and his contacts within the dance teaching and performing profession, Dancing Times played an instrumental role in the founding of the Royal Academy of Dance ..read more

Capital Ballet returns to The Cockpit, London, from August 23 to 27, to present a triple bill of world premieres by emerging choreographers as part of its Performance Intensive Initiative. A freelance dance artist from The Netherlands, Jacqueline Back returns after the success of her first commission for the company, Etumos Ferox. She is collaborating with London-based composer and pianist George Webster on a new score for a piece that will evolve during the rehearsal process, exploring the human connections between the dancers in the studio. National Ballet of Canada’s Nicolas Rose will creat ..read more

Editorial and contents July 2022 The July edition of Dancing Times highlights some current and important issues within the dance world at large. Karen Berry, who has provided some thought-provoking articles for us in the past, this month asks if the dance profession is doing enough to challenge studio culture, both in schools and companies, whilst Matthew Paluch, in his Talking Point column, wonders if current professional dancers’ employment contracts are friend or foe in light of recent events within the UK’s dance sector. We would very much like to hear your thoughts on these subjects for f ..read more

There is a Spanish theme – quite unintentionally – to this latest issue of Dancing Times. Not only do we report back on the most recent Flamenco Festival held at Sadler’s Wells in London in late June and early July this year, which presented a host of excellent dancers and companies, but we also hear from the Spanish ballerina Tamara Rojo, who steps down from her position as artistic director of English National Ballet later in the year in order to take up the role of artistic director of San Francisco Ballet. On a sadder note, in Obituaries we pay tribute to Marina Keet, one of the founders o ..read more

En Route to Common Ground will move through the streets and public spaces of Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, from Woolwich Common to Royal Arsenal Riverside, accompanied by dance, live music and storytelling. Alongside the dancers and musicians from Protein, an ensemble of community performers will spring up along the way to perform snippets of dance and music. Groups taking part include: a youth group from Tramshed, members of Some Voices Choir, members of the Caribbean Social Forum and a group of adults who have been gathered by Protein specifically for the Greenwich+Docklands In ..read more