409 stories by "Luke Jennings"
For Christopher Wheeldon and for British ballet, everything was hanging on his new full-length work The Winter's Tale. Happily, for the most part it's a ravishing successThere was a moment d…
Mikhailovsky theatre, St Petersburg; Barbican theatre, LondonThe starry Russian company gets to grips with Frederick Ashton. And English National Ballet marks the centenary of the first worl…
London ColiseumThe jewelled matrons were ecstatic, but this meeting of five hot ballet boys was sadly thin on choreographySergei Danilian is a New York-based impresario and agent who has mou…
A blazing triple bill at Sadler's Wells, and a triumphant debut by the teenage choreographer the Royal didn't wantLooking back at 20th-century modernist art, one is struck by the certainty i…
BB's new mixed programme at the Royal Opera House shows off the company's great strength and rangeCassa Pancho founded Ballet Black in 2001 to provide a showcase for classical dancers of bla…
Jerwood DanceHouse, Ipswich; Bridewell theatre, LondonTerrific dancers grapple with the cliches in a frustrating exploration of ethnic stereotypingLuca Silvestrini, director of Protein, is o…
Francesca Hayward and James Hay turn in a performance that crosses the years, writes Luke JenningsThere have long been arguments about the existence, or non-existence, of a definable Royal B…
Soho theatre, London No amount of creativity can triumph over a story designed by committee in Probe's latest ventureProbe is a dance project launched a decade ago by Antonia Grove and Theo …
Queen Elizabeth Hall; Coliseum, LondonCherkaoui trips over his textual metaphors while Putrov enlists Johnny Cash in a whirlwind tour of the male conditionContemporary dance has long sought …
Royal Opera House, LondonWith her extraordinary technique and unrivalled ability to convey raw emotion, Natalia Osipova astounds in a role she has made her ownDancing the title role in Gisel…
Purcell Room, LondonAn uncanny central performance is the making of this beautifully precise workAnimated dolls are always worrying. From Coppélia to Petrouchka, from Jessie in Toy Story to…
Platform theatre, LondonPhia Ménard's 'wind play' mimed to a Debussy score is both visually enchanting and musically appropriateThe London international mime festival opened last week with …
Leeds GrandPlot precludes passion in Northern Ballet's otherwise admirable retelling of the classic fairytaleDavid Nixon, artistic director of Northern Ballet, is one the most prolific chore…
Royal Opera House, London; Jerwood Dance House, IpswichThe perfect poise of Marianela Nuñez rounds off a dazzling Jewels. And the Little Match Girl is alive and well in IpswichJewels, cre…
There were dark days in Russia but plenty to write home about elsewhere, including a star defection from London to… LondonRead the Observer critics' reviews of the year in full hereA Russi…
Coliseum, LondonAt the heart of English National Ballet's beautiful, confusing Nutcracker is the dazzling partnership between Daria Klimentova and Vadim MuntagirovWayne Eagling's production …
Queen Elizabeth Hall, LondonJeyasingh's Darwinian contemplation on plant life is frantic with activityYou never know what to expect from Shobana Jeyasingh. Over the 25-year course of her cho…
Sadler's Wells, LondonIt's technically superb, but is Mark Morris's work just too joyful?Great choreographers offer us visions of paradise. Sometimes these are celestial, as in Frederick Ash…
Barbican; Bernie Grant Arts Centre, LondonMichael Clark is eclipsed by new talent at Cloud dance festivalIn the opening moments of Michael Clark's current, unnamed programme, Julie Cunningha…
Star dancer Alina Cojocaru on leaving the Royal Ballet for English National Ballet, the pleasures of touring and taking risks " and the one thing that would make life better right now…For …
The abiding image of Royal Ballet's triple bill is of manhandled womenThe Human Seasons, David Dawson's new work for the Royal Ballet, is almost as demanding of its audience's attention as i…
Barbican, LondonRichard Alston embraces Benjamin Britten's formal vision at a costIn Greek myth Phaedra is the wife of Theseus, who falls in love with her stepson, Hippolytus, and when he re…
Sadler's Wells, LondonHofesh Shechter's trademark interplay of politics and humour steers too close to whimsy in this lively new workHofesh Shechter's new work, Sun, kicks off with a typical…
From Bande à part to Little Miss Sunshine, Observer dance critic Luke Jennings picks his favourite dance numbers in filmsLuke Jennings
Milton Keynes theatreWith Le Corsaire " and its new star dancer " Tamara Rojo delivers in style for English National BalletLe Corsaire is the first full-length ballet commissioned by Tamara …
