409 stories by "Luke Jennings"
Sadler's Wells; The Place, both LondonIt's a man's world at the ballet. At least it is when Hans van Manen is in charge. Eighty next year, the Dutch choreographer is one of the founding fath…
Sadler's Wells; The Place, both LondonMarÃa Pagés is a Spanish flamenco dancer whose career has embraced decades of international touring, film-work with Carlos Saura, and even a stint w…
Eden Court, InvernessThere's a sequence in Act 2 of Scottish Ballet's Alice when the young heroine is lured into the toils of a giant spider, and it's hard not to see this as a metaphor for …
The Royal Ballet is at crossroads " its current artistic director, Monica Mason, is about to retire and the search is on for a successor who will guard the company's rich classical heritage …
Sadler's Wells, LondonAnne Teresa De Keersmaeker is a Belgian choreographer and the director of the dance company Rosas, founded by her in 1983. An original member of the Belgian new wave, 5…
As the Royal Ballet recruits a new artistic director, we look back at the highlights of Monica Mason's decade at the helmLuke Jennings
Robin Howard Dance theatre, LondonThe Place prize is dance's equivalent of the Turner or Man Booker prizes. Awarded annually, and sponsored by the business news organisation Bloomberg, it's…
The controversy over Natalie Portman's dance double reveals the culture clash between Hollywood's colossal budgets and the underfunded world of ballet Continue reading...
The controversy over Natalie Portman's dance double reveals the culture clash between Hollywood's colossal budgets and the underfunded world of balletFeathers are continuing to fly over Blac…
Sadler's Wells, LondonThe Venezuelan-born choreographer Javier de Frutos is a volatile talent. At its best, in pieces such as Paseillo and Nopalitos, his work has a dream-like intensity and …
Royal Opera House, LondonIt's been a strange week for the Royal Ballet's Marianela Nuñez. On Tuesday she made her debut in the title role of Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in W…
Grand theatre, Leeds; Linbury theatre, Royal Opera House, LondonWhen asked what they want to be in life, most schoolchildren reportedly say that they want to be famous. Like hyper-ambitious …
Royal Opera House, LondonThe strongest scene in the Royal Ballet's new production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, opens with Alice (Lauren Cuthber…
Sadler's Wells, LondonAt the beginning of the Forsythe Company's I Don't Believe in Outer Space, the dancer Dana Caspersen, wife of the choreographer William Forsythe, voices a bizarre dialo…
artsdepot, LondonAll-male dance companies are something of an anomaly. At one end of the scale you've got the Trocks in drag, at the other the dickie-bowed Chippendales rippling their pecs …
Royal Ballet of Flanders, Vlaamse Opera, Antwerp; Linbury theatre, Royal Opera House, LondonStriking the right balance between the old and the new is the hardest task facing today's ballet d…
Sadler's Wells, London; Jerwood Dance House, IpswichIt's hard to imagine a piece more perfectly tailored to American Ballet Theatre's dancers than Alexei Ratmansky's Seven Sonatas. Performed…
This 30-second scrap of film showing Diaghilev's famed Ballets Russes in action represents one of dance's great discoveriesThe Ballets Russes, founded in 1910 by the Russian impresario Serge…
Royal Opera House, LondonI'd love not to mention Darren Aronofsky's film Black Swan this week, but I can't resist telling you that according to Royal Ballet director Monica Mason, the Covent…
ICA, LondonAkhe Engineering Theatre defies categorisation. Presented under the banner of the 2011 London International Mime festival, its latest piece, Gobo. Digital Glossary, offers an expl…
Royal Opera House, LondonWhat a difference a day makes. On Tuesday's first night of Giselle, the Royal Ballet's Tamara Rojo gave a heart-rending account of the title role, miraculous in its …
Coliseum, LondonIn Rudolf Nureyev's copy of Romeo and Juliet, the following quotation from Act 1 was underlined: "Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars,/ Shall bitterly begin his fearf…
Wayne McGregor has spent 18 years at the cutting edge of choreography. Now the dynamic outsider of British dance has won the establishment seal of approval in the New Year honours list"I was…
Royal Festival Hall, London; Royal Opera House, LondonHip-hop dance has come a long way in recent years, but with the exception of ZooNation's Into the Hoods has had trouble establishing its…
Coliseum, London; Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, London; ROH, LondonThere's a particular frisson that can exist between an established ballerina and a younger male dancer " Fonteyn and …
