Dance
Choreographers! Enough with the reworkings of Carmen and Frankenstein!
Carmen and Frankenstein are without a doubt two of the most over-worked tropes in our culture, the myths of the…
Subtle, intriguing and inventive: Rambert’s Death Trap reviewed
Ben Duke belongs to a class of younger choreographers who have decided to flout the convention that dancers should remain…
A haunting masterpiece: Northern Ballet’s Adagio Hammerklavier reviewed
One could soundly advise any choreographer to avoid music so transcendentally great in itself that dance can add nothing except…
A vanity exercise: Carlos at 50, at the Royal Opera House, reviewed
In 2015 Carlos Acosta announced his retirement from the Royal Ballet and the classical repertory. It seemed like the right…
Short of sparkle: Cinderella-in-the-round, at the Royal Albert Hall, reviewed
Having been unexpectedly delighted by the Royal Ballet’s revival of Christopher Wheeldon’s Corybantic Games at Covent Garden last week, I…
Same old, same old: Wayne McGregor’s Untitled, 2023, at the Royal Opera House, reviewed
My witty friend whispered that Wayne McGregor’s new ballet Untitled, 2023 put her in mind of Google HQ – it’s…
Stunts, gimmicks, tricks, hot air: snapshots from the edge of modern dance
This month I’ve been venturing into the further reaches of modern dance – obscure territory where I don’t feel particularly…
Patronising to the people of Peterborough: BRB2’s Carlos Acosta Classical Selections reviewed
Fulfilling its sacred duty to serve regions that higher culture tends to avoid, Birmingham Royal Ballet made a midweek visit…
A triumph: Nederlands Dans Theater 1, at Sadler’s Wells, reviewed
Yes, yes, I know. You’ve had your fill of David Attenborough’s jeremiads, you’ve heard enough already about climate change catastrophe.…
Not an experience you’d want to repeat: Shen Yun, at the Eventim Apollo, reviewed
If you live in London, you may well have spotted Shen Yun’s enormous candy-coloured posters on the Underground, endorsed by…
Time for Akram Khan to move on from climate-change choreography
It must be 20 years since I first saw Akram Khan dance, and I will never forget the impression he…
Distressingly vulgar: Royal Ballet’s Cinderella reviewed
Despite its widespread rating as one of his masterpieces, Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella is chock full of knots, gaps and stumbling…
Generous, boundless, turbo-charged: Turn It Out with Tiler Peck and Friends, at Sadler’s Wells, reviewed
The death last week at the age of 83 of the sublime Lynn Seymour – muse to Ashton and MacMillan,…
Best in show
Civilisation has never nurtured more than a handful of front-rank choreographers within any one generation, with the undesirable result that…