On a cold, proper “winter blues” afternoon in London, I phoned Alina Cojocaru to chat about her upcoming show at Sadler’s Wells. She was putting on the finishing touches for the programme and we spoke about her ideas. By the time we had finished our chat, she had truly brightened up my day. Focused on collaborations and featuring short films which look at her life and career, the evening seems less like a ballet gala and more like an extremely personal project, and if anyone has the artistic sensibility to pull off something like that, it’s Alina. I can’t wait to see how it all comes together ..read more

We’re a little bit late with this, but there’s still time to recap on our favourite performances of 2019. We had a good year, with San Francisco Ballet and the Bolshoi in London and ABT, The Royal Ballet and the Mariinsky in California. We were lucky to catch many noteworthy role debuts and watch young dancers develop and form new partnerships. If you saw any of the shows below, let us know if you agree – and feel free to tell us about your own picks! Linda’s Picks: 1) Ivan Putrov’s ballet gala, Against the Stream  I admit that I had given up on ballet galas before coming across this one. Why ..read more

Earlier this month, the San Francisco Dance Film Festival celebrated its 10 year anniversary. Featuring full movies and curated collections of short films, the festival focus is on the power of dance to tell a compelling story. For ballet lovers specifically, there were some great options, like ENB/Akram Khan’s Giselle and Crystal Pite’s Betroffenheit (winner of the festival prize for “Best Live Performance Capture”). I quickly jumped at the opportunity to catch the Royal Ballet in a programme that included two short films, as well as the Ballet Boyz’s ambitious live action version of Romeo an ..read more

After a prolonged gap, the first performance in our autumn dance calendar was English National Ballet’s revival of Akram Khan’s Giselle at Sadler’s Wells last month. The production was hailed a triumph when it premiered in 2016 and we were definitely among its many fans. We liked that Khan had gone beyond than just re-dressing the ballet and that, together with his dramaturg Ruth Little, he had set the story in a garment factory of migrant workers against the backdrop of a wall. This wall separates them from the “others”, the landlords, who in turn exploit the migrants as cheap labour. Since t ..read more

This summer, Linda and I pulled a switcheroo with our home companies, seeing that San Francisco Ballet visited London in June, and that The Royal Ballet came to Los Angeles, a regular (and new favourite) ballet destination for me since my move to California two years ago. I was torn between the two programmes being presented by the company in L.A., as I could not stay in town for both. The new Wayne McGregor, Inferno, drawing from a collaboration in AI with Google looked compelling, but when the other ballet on offer is Mayerling... that is unfair! As you can see from my bio, it is one of my a ..read more

The Royal Ballet is currently on tour in LA, California, which is funny since, just a month ago, we had a Californian company visit us here in London: San Francisco Ballet, returning after a 7-year gap. During SFB’s previous tour (2012) and later, at Les Etés de la Danse in Paris (2014), the company had captivated us with its athleticism and vast modern ballet repertory. It was no different this time around, with 12 new works made by some of the world’s most influential choreographers today, for example: Cathy Marston, Arthur Pita, Justin Peck, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon. While ..read more

British dancer Jonathan Goddard is one of the most recognised contemporary performers of all time. He was the first contemporary dancer to be nominated in the dance category of the South Bank Show / Times Newspaper Breakthrough Award (2007) and went on to become the first contemporary performer to also win the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Best Male Dancer in 2014.  Jonathan is well-known for high profile collaborations, the latest being with Arthur Pita in The Mother (his second with the choreographer after Stepmother/Stepfather in 2016). Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of ..read more

One of the productions we currently have on our radar is English National Ballet’s “in-the-round” staging of Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella which premieres at the Royal Albert Hall this Thursday evening. Having seen the ballet performed by both San Francisco Ballet and Dutch National Ballet, the two companies that originally commissioned this production, we can safely say there is plenty to love in this stunning version. We recently dropped by Here East, a complex in East London that is also home to Studio Wayne McGregor, to photograph the rehearsals. Staging a ballet “in-the-round” require ..read more

This week, San Francisco Ballet returns to London after a 7-year absence. On display at Sadler’s Wells are many of the new works premiered last year during the company’s Unbound Festival, plus Ratmansky’s exhilarating Shostakovich Trilogy. But what to look for in each of the four programmes? Programme B is the most eclectic in terms of mix of styles. We have contemporary chic in Edwaard Liang’s The Infinite Ocean alongside Cathy Marston’s mini narrative gem, Snowblind, and the fantastically surreal Björk Ballet by Arthur Pita to close. Unmissable.  The irresistible Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming ..read more

Yorke Dance Project is a contemporary ballet touring company. Under the artistic direction of Yolande Yorke-Edgell, the company has a repertory that includes vintage pieces (Kenneth MacMillan, Robert Cohan) and that also embraces new talent and young female choreographers. Last time we photographed the company, the dancers had been rehearsing for a programme at Sadler’s Wells that covered MacMillan’s Sea of Troubles alongside Charlotte Edmond’s Self. This week, the company is celebrating 20 years of its creation by Yorke-Edgell with a set of performances at the Royal Opera House. Joined by som ..read more