Sadler's Wells
'She was revolutionary': Tanztheater Wuppertal's new director on the legacy of Pina BauschMonday, 10 February 2020![]() Ten years on from the death of its founder-choreographer, the Pina Bausch company finds itself at a crossroads, unwilling to limit itself to endless revivals of hits such as Café Muller or Rite of Spring, yet equally unwilling to relinquish the back... Read more... |
The Red Shoes, Sadler's Wells review - the ultimate stage movieMonday, 16 December 2019![]() Matthew Bourne’s tally of hits is such that many of his dance-drama interpretations of old ballets and films were labelled “classic” as soon as they appeared. Yet The Red Shoes, Bourne’s 2016 tribute to the 1948 film, is arguably the one that most... Read more... |
Acosta Danza, Sadler's Wells review - a dose of Cuban sunThursday, 21 November 2019![]() Second album, second novel, second tour programme – the follow-up is always tricky. But the timing couldn’t be better for Acosta Danza, the Havana-based dance company which made its UK debut in 2017. These 20 young Cubans, handpicked by Carlos... Read more... |
Natalia Osipova: Pure Dance, Sadler's Wells review - a great ballerina branches out, againFriday, 25 October 2019![]() Sometimes a dance talent arrives that causes the ground to shift and alters the landscape. Natalia Osipova is one such. Not content to be queen of all she surveys at the Royal Ballet, she is hungry for new territory. Pure Dance is the second solo... Read more... |
Dada Masilo's Giselle, Sadler's Wells review - bold, brutal, unforgivingTuesday, 08 October 2019![]() The most arresting thing about Dada Masilo’s contemporary South African take on Giselle is Masilo herself. Tiny and boyishly slight, she inhabits her own fast, fidgety, tribal-inspired choreography with the intensity of someone in a trance. Costumed... Read more... |
Alvin Ailey, Programme C review - black, beautiful, brilliantThursday, 12 September 2019![]() The Ailey company is that rare thing – a dance legend that’s even better than you remember. While no one forgets their first encounter with America’s No.1 touring troupe and its unique mix of ballet, modern, jazz, street, and all-round athletic... Read more... |
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Sadler's Wells review - Still more RevelationsFriday, 06 September 2019![]() There is no equivalent of the Ailey phenomenon. This is a modern dance company with a New York square named after it. It’s a dance company that has performed at the inauguration of two presidents. Its calling card, Revelations, a suite of dances... Read more... |
Matthew Bourne's Romeo and Juliet, Sadler's Wells review - heart-stopping dramaSaturday, 10 August 2019![]() Your first thought on hearing there's a new Matthew Bourne Romeo and Juliet might well be 'doesn't it exist already?' So obvious does this marriage of high drama, lush iconic score, and Britain's premier dance maker seem that you might well be... Read more... |
Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras, Sadler's Wells review - storming opening to flamenco festivalThursday, 04 July 2019![]() Crowned queen of the percussive heel and the trouser suit, Sara Baras has the audience on its feet long before the final number of her show Sombras (Shadows). The Spanish superstar is a familiar presence at Sadler’s Wells, having fronted its annual... Read more... |
San Francisco Ballet, Liang/Marston/Pita, Sadler's Wells - elemental, ethereal and kitschy, tooTuesday, 04 June 2019![]() Sun, snow, and some unadorned silliness danced to the music of Björk: no one can accuse San Francisco of casting an insufficiently wide tonal (or climatic) net in this second of four programmes on view from San Francisco Ballet as part of their... Read more... |
'I wrote a letter to Björk in Icelandic and it did the trick': Helgi Tomasson on an intervention that saved a balletTuesday, 28 May 2019![]() Visits from major foreign ballet companies are always news, but a two-week London season by one of America’s “big three” is something to get excited about. San Francisco Ballet doesn’t rest on its laurels. Eight of the 12 pieces offered in the... Read more... |
Mitten wir im Leben sind, De Keersmaeker, Queyras, Rosas, Sadler's Wells review - Bach-worthy geniusThursday, 25 April 2019![]() All Bach is dance, a teacher once told me. The justifiable exaggeration switched on a light; leaping to the Brandenburg Concertos followed. This great work of kinetic art is of a different order. Choreographer and performer Anne Teresa De... Read more... |
