How the visionary Bournonvile came to develop a dancing style that would forever become the unique hallmark of Danish ballet. Say “ballet” in Denmark, and before long you’ll hear one name: Bournonville. The Danes pronounce it: Bonn-ville. That’s, of course,…
A portrait of the Nederlands Dans Theater’s junior company, NDT2, an exhilarating combination of youth, technique and hunger for dancing. The dancers of NDT2 hit the stage like a controlled explosion of pure dance. Their breath-taking technique belies their extreme…
As his dancing career evolves into teaching, Joel Morris tells us his heart is split between stage and ballet studio. Just after 6 o’clock on a Thursday evening beginners class at Pineapple is in full flow. Sixteen adults stand at…
As he prepares for his first major international commission in Düsseldorf, Hubert Essakow talks about life as a freelance choreographer. Call it serendipity. Had the great Lynn Seymour not been friends with Hubert Essakow’s favourite actress, Sara Kestelman, he may…
Susan Robinson, ballet teacher extraordinaire, on how she transmits her “pure passion for the art” to successive generations of dancers. On the last night of English National Ballet’s London Christmas season, Laurretta Summerscales received a rapturous ovation for her sparkling…
Crystal Pite, the internationally acclaimed Canadian choreographer, talks about the processes and emotions that come together in her extraordinary work. Betroffenheit is Crystal Pite’s current favourite among the 40+ works she’s created over the past 25 years. It is…
Does gender, rather than talent, determine which choreographers get commissions? We report on the state of an increasingly heated debate. Towards the end of…
Maina Gielgud talks about her career, a gift from Maurice Béjart, and ballet’s need to rediscover the joy of movement Few dance careers can have been more diverse than that of British ballerina Maina Gielgud. Ballet de Roland Petit… Sadler’s…
Christopher Hampson, Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer of Scottish Ballet, shares his ambitious plans for Scotland’s premier ballet company. A mere glance at Scottish…
Royal Ballet graduate Daniel Mulligan writes about his life as a dancer in Ballett Zurich in Switzerland’s most glamorous city. I spent two years in the Junior Company and was lucky enough to stay with the main company…