La Bayadere, Norwegian National Ballet, 17/04/26

Natalia Makarova’s La Bayadère was last performed by The Royal Ballet back in 2018 and is unlikely to return to London any time soon. Its place in company repertoires has become controversial with the more exotic elements of the story and characters well documented. Dutch National Ballet have recently offered a “renewed” and “adapted” version and next year Birmingham Royal Ballet will premiere a reimagined take set in Renaissance Venice. But what of Makarova’s production with its close ties to the 1877 original? With its opulent costumes, bravura dancing and Kingdom of the Shades, Norwegian National Ballet’s opening night in Oslo was a strong argument for its place in any season, displaying ballet escapism at its best.

Read the full review on Bachtrack.com

English National Ballet, Body & Soul review 19/03/26

English National Ballet’s new Sadler’s Wells programme includes just two works. One, a UK premiere from the much admired Crystal Pite, responsible for Flight Pattern and Light of Passage. The other sees Director, Aaron S. Watkin take a bet on commissioning Kameron N. Saunders, best known for dancing on Taylor Swift’s Era’s Tour, to create a new piece for the company. The result, unfortunately, is a very mixed evening featuring what is broadly one hit and one miss, and just a general disappointment that ENB couldn’t be put to better use. 

Body and Soul (Part 1) is a mesmerising work with a strong aesthetic, it doesn’t scream and shout, the quality is …

Read the full review on BroadwayWorld.com

The Nutcracker, Royal Ballet and Opera, 23/11/25

Ballet lovers will all have their own relationship with Sir Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker. Since 1984, it has brought cosy familiarity and festive charm to the Royal Ballet’s repertoire and over the years, it’s been a privilege to see dancers rise through the ranks, watching as they move from Clara/The Nutcracker to the Sugar Plum Fairy/Prince. It was much missed last year (it’s skipped roughly once every five years) in favour of Frederick Ashton’s inferior Cinderella, but now it’s back in its rightful place, radiating warmth and delivering some thrilling individual performances.

The Royal dances this production like a company who knows it has the best Nutcracker in town, and it’s a crowded market. Wright’s choreography with Julia Trevelyan Oman appealing designs are timeless and opulent, while …

Read the full review on BroadwayWorld.com

Image: Andrej Uspenski

Interview: Carlos Acosta, Dance for You, October 2025

Carlos Acosta has never been one to shy away from bold moves. Since taking the helm at Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2020, the former Royal Ballet Principal has brought fresh audiences to the company, with a range of accessible works with wide appeal beyond the typical ballet-goer. Black Sabbath – The Ballet is perhaps the most successful example of this, the heavy metal inspired show now returns for a UK wide tour, two years after it first premiered at the Birmingham Hippodrome.

Throughout our chat, Acosta remains excited about the prospect of bringing ballet to new audiences, but it’s the young talent of the company that also clearly energizes him. Here he also discusses some stars of the future and why he may be tempted to return to the stage himself.

Black Sabbath is returning for the new season. Why are you bringing it back, and how has it connected with audiences?

Black Sabbath was a huge success for us. It’s a full-length ballet with no clear narrative, but it sold almost as many tickets as Swan Lake. When we went on sale seven months before opening night, the production wasn’t even finished and it still sold out. Around 60% of those tickets came from the world of heavy metal who had never been to ballet before. That was the whole idea: to reach new audiences.

Read the interview in Dance For You magazine

Interview: Natalia Osipova, Dance for You, March 2025

In the traditional world of ballet, Natalia Osipova is a small, but powerful firecracker. She is somewhat of an enigma, joining The Royal Ballet as a Principal in 2013, there is still the same frisson of excitement in the auditorium prior to one of her performances today as there was over ten years ago. A woman of few words off the stage, you never quite know what you’re going to get, only that it will be a thrill.

Last year she revealed on Instagram she had had a surgery to relieve an injury that had left her in pain for many years. Now, she returns to the Linbury stage in a programme of self selected pieces and partners, fulfilling a long term dream. So what drives her now? And at 38 does she still have the same passion?

March’s Linbury programme at Covent Garden had been a long time coming. She tells me, “I always wanted to do something in my house – The Royal Ballet. We talked with Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, for so many years but I’ve always been so busy, and then last year I got injured and had surgery.”

Read the full interview in Dance For You magazine

Interview: Steven McRae, Dance for You, September 2024

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Royal Opera House 28/09/24

Last seen in 2017, Christopher Wheeldon’s take on the classic Lewis Carroll novel returns to the Royal Opera House stage, or rather Royal Ballet and Opera as we must now call it. Premiering in 2011, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a complex tale to bring to life and is done via a visual assault of colour and creativity. Joby Talbot’s intricate and meandering score takes us down the rabbit hole to a bizarre world of curiouser and curiouser figures. The result is spectacular and Bob Crowley’s designs are unique and memorable. It’s just a little light on dance.

Although disjointed, the overall narrative is clearly drawn. Starting on a light, bright Oxford Lawn, Alice (Francesca Hayward) dances with her friends. This gang are sweet and skittish in pastel shades, overseen by her pedantic and stern mother (Lauren Cuthbertson, the original 2011 Alice, more on her later). In this busy opening scene, Jack, a young gardener (William Bracewell), gives Alice a discarded red rose in a fleeting interaction and it’s not long before we’re …

Read the full review on Bachtrack.com

 

Image: Alice Pennefather

Swan Lake – Sofia Opera and Ballet, Pancharevo Lake 11/07/24

There’s no live ballet in July, right, it’s time for summer break? Wrong. At least this much is true if you head to Bulgaria. Sofia’s opera house closes and ballet goers head to Pancharevo Lake, a peaceful location approximately 15 km from the centre of the capital for “muses on the water”, a selection of performances from Sofia Opera and Ballet against a picturesque lakeside as the sun sets. It’s as dreamy as it sounds.

Even better, this is an abridged Swan Lake. No one wants a three hour plus marathon when it’s July, you’ve brought the kids and it’s 33ºC. Danced to recorded music with sparse scenery, the performances are better framed as summer novelties to be enjoyed with a glass of something refreshing as the company takes us through the highlights of Tchaikovsky’s score.

The function of Act 1, largely to set the scene for the story, benefits from this treatment as we are quickly invited into Prince Siegfried’s (Tsetso Ivanov) celebration, the entrance of the Queen (Lyudmila Ilieva) and the pas de trois. Francesco Congiusti’s lively Jester stands out, the stamina required for the endless cavorting, split jumps and tours in the relentless heat is beyond human, but executed with endless enthusiasm and character.

It’s the white acts which are the highlight however, made all the more magical by the setting. Ivanov’s Prince is troubled and sombre, but ultimately …

Read the full review on Bachtrack.com

Favourite Things – Ballett am Rhein 07/07/24

As we reached the end of season gala, Ballett am Rhein offered up a selection of highlights from the past four seasons in celebration of outgoing Artistic Director, Demis Volpi. Volpi arrived in 2020 and has since presented an eclectic collection of largely contemporary work. He now moves on to succeed John Neumeier at Hamburg Ballet, but not before one final curtain call in Düsseldorf.

One thing I have learnt as a spectator of ballet in Germany in recent years is patience. And in the case of saying goodbye, these things take time, which on this final evening was approximately three hours and 15 minutes. The bill was packed with engaging neoclassical works from William Forsythe, Hans van Manen and George Balanchine as well as excerpts from Volpi’s own choreography and others. Although there were some touching highlights, the whole programme would have benefited from a critical eye and some editing in order to allow the evening to flow. The van Manen piece, Solo, is a brief trio that fizzes with the energy of three male dancers, but Volpi’s The Thing with Feathers is a largely impenetrable, darkly lit piece, of which 30 minutes was unnecessary.

The evening was not without some deeply tender moments, the most memorable of which was And my beloved, a pas de deux for Paula Alves and Daniele Bonelli. Performed to David Lang’s mournful acapella song Just, it tracks the ups and downs of a couple’s relationship, from the passionate, to the mundane. Neshama Nashman’s choreography highlights their dependence on each other and their continuous connection. When one is weak, the other must be strong. It’s intensely physically demanding, they begin tentatively with shyness, the later lifts and falls requiring complete trust and familiarity. The hypnotic choreography draws you in and there’s something quietly moving about it.

Volpi’s choreography is also strong in the pas de deux …

Read the full review on Bachtrack.com

Images by Ingo Schaefer

Black Sabbath – The Ballet at The Grand Theatre de Luxembourg 19/06/24

Birmingham Royal Ballet and Black Sabbath are two of Birmingham’s greatest cultural exports and now they are on a European tour together before heading to the US next year. Elegant young women in black leather jackets formed a procession from the nearby tram stop to the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg – the audience decidedly more bunhead than metalhead – to decide whether this unlikely fusion rocked or not.

Divided into three evenly timed acts, from three individual choreographers, despite euphoric moments the overall mood was far more mellow than anticipated. There is an informality to much of what’s on offer, from the spontaneous party pieces like chaînéturns that whirl across the stage, to the casual look of the dancers in leotards and band t-shirts rocking out with guitarist Marc Hayward. The stage is bare and there are no rules here.

Act 1 loosely focuses on the union of heavy metal and ballet.All of Sabbath’s most recognisable hits feature (I’m told) and they lend themselves surprisingly beautifully to orchestral interpretation. On stage, a corps of sixteen dancers move in unison. Raúl Reinoso’s choreography is simple, the stuff of ballet class drills; tendus and pliés, peppered with pirouettes, but in these nervy opening moments it looks a little messy and under rehearsed. It’s improved however by the individual contributions, most notably Tzu-Chao Chou’s explosive solo, the male Principal confident dancing en pointe. The mood shifts then in a memorable pas de deux to the ballad Solitude, involving the longest stage kiss you’re likely to ever see. Yaoqian Shang and Javier Rojas are joined at the mouth throughout as they contort themselves into an array of aesthetically pleasing poses and stretches. It’s a gentle, heartwarming number, and not at all what I expected to see from a celebration of the band Black Sabbath.

Read the full review on Bachtrack.com

Swan Lake in-the-round at the Royal Albert Hall 12/06/24

Derek Deane’s Swan Lake has quite the reputation. First premiered in 1997 it became known for its corps de ballet of 60 swans (with freelancers hired to beef up ENB’s ranks) and then in 2010, a BBC documentary tracked its rehearsals and opening night, not always depicting everyone in the most flattering light, but the spectacle of all those white tutus made it an audience favourite. Now it’s back to conclude the first season under new Artistic Director Aaron S. Watkin. 

Performed in-the-round at the Royal Albert Hall, Deane’s production is a unique experience, this is arena ballet for the big stage, story is secondary to wow factor and there won’t be many complaints about that. From the moment dancers come on, ballerinas are interspersed with jugglers and acrobats. Everything must be bigger and better, the pas de trois becomes a pas de douze with four trios gallantly mirroring each other to great effect, and later the quartet or cygnets is increased to eight for some double jeopardy. Add to that Tchiakovsky’s iconic score conducted enthusiastically by Gavin Sutherland and you can understand there is almost too much to take in. 

Amongst all that, the leading couple don’t define the performance as much as they would typically but Gareth Haw makes a highly assured debut as Prince Siegried. He is an expressive actor and dancer who appears rather overwhelmed by his adoration for his Odette (Sanguen Lee), he is consumed by love for her. Lee herself is an eye-catching, athletic dancer, combined with a rippling fluidity of movement. She need only extend her leg skywards and it’s breathtaking.

Read the full review on BroadwayWorld.com

Image credit: Laurent Liotardo

Northern Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet at Sadler’s Wells 28/05/24

Leeds based Northern Ballet always pack a punch when they visit London every May, and this time was no different, with Massimo Moricone’s slick and captivating Romeo and Juliet. This year’s touring production held extra poignancy, with the costumes and set requiring full restoration and repair from a devastating warehouse flood in 2015. Nine years later, Lez Brotherston’s designs have been recaptured to their former glory and with the company in fine form, it’s clear to see why this is one of their most beloved and successful ventures.

The Shakespeare classic can be heavy (and lengthy) going, but in this take devised by Christopher Gable, the story sweeps along fluently, the familiar Prokofiev score has been trimmed down and is all the better for it. The opening image of the lovers on individual plinths as lights crackle and they are pulled apart neatly reflects what’s at stake, and the blissful balcony pas de deux rolls around before you can draw breath. 

Brotherston’s simple, eye-catching designs are expertly drawn with the cold Capulet’s in black velvet adorned with gold studs, the Montague’s a more carefree bunch in looser fitting colourful attire.

Dominique Larose and Joseph Taylor make a handsome lead couple, their individual styles creating something together the audience cannot resist. The journey of Larose’s Juliet from skittish immaturity to womanhood is beautifully pitched. Larose is a very placed dancer who can also handle the emotional nuances and demands of Juliet. There is an assured calm in her early solo, the audience know they are in good hands here and it later allows us to be fully engrossed in her story. She gets braver in the more spontaneous pas de deux choreography but never loses her youthful edge. 
Image credit: Emily Nuttall

Read the full review on BroadwayWorld.com

Interview: Yu Kurihara and Yasiel Hodelin Bello, Birmingham Royal Ballet, April 2024

Interview: Isabella Gasparini, Dancing, debuts and a degree, Dance For You, February 2024

DFY nr. 113 ISABELLA GASPARINIDownload

INTERIVEW: IVANA BUENO AND ISABELLE BROUWERS, BALLROOM DEBUTS – AUGUST 2023

DFY nr. 110 Ivana Bueno+Isabelle Browers (1)Download

Interview: Tiffany Hedman – Breathe Easy, Dance for You magazine, May 2023

DFY nr. 109 TiffanyDownload

Ek and Ekman’s double bill at Stattballett Berlin 23/02/23

The latest double bill from Staatsballett Berlin features two choreographers keen to subvert the idea of what a contemporary work of dance should be, with varying degrees of success. Alexander Ekman and Mats Ek’s choreography makes for witty and thought provoking entertainment, whilst at the same time parodying what art should be and how we should understand and respond to it. It sounds high brow but it’s not. In the case of Ekman, writing a review of a work that sought to be somewhat “critic-proof” feels a little meta but it certainly raises a smile after Mats Ek’s confused opener which offers up snapshots of lives and relationships but with no real conclusions. 

In Ek’s A Sort Of …, the title is left ambiguous much like the work itself. It follows a company of dancers disappearing down the rabbit hole of a stage with sections of reflective stillness contrasting with chaotic noise and props. The opening scene sees a man (Arshak Ghalumyan) alone but clearly lonely too. He lies on the floor, thrashing around unhappily until he gets up and retrieves a female (Vivian Assal Koohnavard) from the audience. Henryk M. Górecki’s score provides a mournful backdrop. The pair dance a slow pas de deux in oversized costumes (Maria Geber) that appear to be deliberately ugly – baggy winter coats in muted pinks and browns. Their shoes are rigid and feet flexed, you won’t see any pretty lines here.

Finally, after locking the woman in a suitcase, the pair escape to a world hidden behind a bright yellow layer of stage, vibrant colours, raucous laughter and messy formations follow. Personally, I could have done without the simultaneous and repeated bursting of balloons. Despite the cheerful colours, the women are conservatively dressed, the second pas de deux following interplay between a couple (Clotilde Tran and Johnny McMillan) sees the former in a long yellow woollen skirt and solid ankle boots. They make the many lifts seem clumsy and inelegant despite dancing with wholehearted attack and a watchable dynamic. 

As we are returned to the bleak setting of where we started and our original couple, the man is left alone, she has left him for another man. These complicated relationships, jerky, uncomfortable choreography remain throughout, meaning the audience never quite gets a handle on what Ek intended. 

Read the full review on Bachtrack.com

Casanova – Northern Ballet, Sadler’s Wells 12/05/22

Five years since its premiere, Kenneth Tindall’s Casanova remains a distinctive and highly engaging addition to Northern Ballet’s repertoire. It’s danced with confident storytelling by its cast and Christopher Oram’s set design is glossy and slick and of course, it’s pretty hot. However, this is all about seduction not smut. It’s only foible remains the heft of the narrative.

Some assumptions first. Everyone has heard of Giacomo Casanova and the connotations his name conjures up, but do you know his story? I did not and so can only implore you to invest ten minutes in reading the programme notes because you’re missing a treat if you don’t. There is a wealth of visual appeal in this production but the action is at times relentless and could disengage without an understanding of the plot and its many characters.

Kerry Muzzey’s score brings a heavy, melancholy and fine sense of drama but as the plot develops it becomes a little repetitive and Casanova’s liaisons with his various lovers lose their individual identity.

Joseph Taylor holds a commanding stage presence as the protagonist. 

Read the full review on BroadwayWorld.com

Here Come the Boys at the London Palladium 29/05/2021

• 

Sometimes a show seems to have everything against it. Shortly before its run at the London Palladium, it was announced the following UK tour of Here Come the Boys was being postponed to 2022. On the evening I was in attendance, not only was there a sparse crowd due to social distancing, but we were informed that arguably the star with the biggest pulling power, Aljaž Škorjanec, had an injury and would be absent. With all of this in mind, my point is that this performance had no business being as wildly enjoyable as it was. The boisterous charisma of the cast and the audience’s anticipation at returning to live theatre was tangible, even without the charm of everyone’s favourite smooth talking Slovenian.

Following on from the first iteration of tours of the same name, Here Come the Boys was initially seen in 2019. It’s a wisely chosen antidote to 15 months of dark theatres – bright, high-energy, silly and a bit predictable with both the (predominantly female) audience and the cast having a fabulous time throughout.

Read the full review on Dancing-Times.co.uk

English National Ballet – Reunion at Sadler’s Wells 17/05/21

And what a joyous selection of work to return to. Perfectly programmed to follow a theatrical hiatus, Reunion features short pieces that are accessible to watch and are easy on the attention span. In these five new works by a blend of established and emerging choreographers, it is, interestingly, the emerging ones who come out on top.

Former Bolshoi star Yuri Possokhov’s Senseless Kindness is a wonderful reintroduction to dance post-COVID. All moody strings, set to Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No 1, it frames the two featured couples with elegance and pathos. Its source is Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate about a Russian family caught in the Second World War, but the narrative feels more of a backdrop than a central theme. The piece is danced by a strong quartet including Lead Principals Isaac Hernandez and Francesco Gabriele Frola. However it’s Emma Hawes and Alison McWhinney who shine brightly here. These First Soloists’ fluid style, beautifully placed lines and stretched-out arabesques perfectly suit the material, and they glide dreamily in the sweeping lifts of the mournful pas de deux.

The Reunion programme was first seen as part of ENB’s digital season. Both Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Laid in Earth and Russell Maliphant’s Echoes worked well due to the atmospheric contributions of gothic sets, shimmering lights and camera trickery but they feel less impactful on the stage. Laid in Earth still feels cinematic, set to a score that moves from classical to electronic. Erina Takahashi and Precious Adams ripple delicately across the stage, the former sharing obvious chemistry with James Streeter in a powerful pas de deux that highlights his strength and her fragility.

Maliphant’s Echoes is, as one might expect, an intricate work of pyrotechnics, impressive to watch but unfortunately not a showcase for the dancers when performed live. The imagery is still enjoyable, though, and the final moments that see the last remaining dancer slowly fade away amongst glints of light provides a spectacle.

That leaves the two star-picks in this selection box of new dance. Stina Quagebeur admits herself (having previously danced with ENB before moving to choreography) that her knowledge of the company and the dancers’ strengths and weaknesses have aided her here, and the payoff is Take Five Blues, a work that feels mature, accomplished, and is danced with flair and fun. Set to Nigel Kennedy’s Take Five, a contemporary take on Bach, this is a spirited number with punchy interplay between the eight dancers. They hurtle through the choreography with relish, the latter half breaking off into a more improvised feel that is no less engaging for the change of tone.

Arielle Smith’s Jolly Folly is a perfect closer for this joyful occasion. Don’t overthink or over-analyse it, this at heart is Charlie Chaplin-inspired high-jinks, with exaggerated motifs and moves, visual comedy and powerhouse acrobatics. Both the men and women in this cast of eight are dressed in matching tuxedos. Francesca Velicu and Julia Conway prompt laughs in a hyped-up boxing match, while Joseph Caley and Rhys Antoni-Yeomans are similarly impressive, their energy not dipping for a moment in the continued pirouettes, jumps and falls all delivered with musical panache.

Image: Laurent Liotardo