1,004 stories by "Judith Mackrell"
Boston Ballet | Strictly spin-offsBoston Ballet, LondonThese sparky Americans visit London for the first time in 30 years, with a showcase of their trademark neo-classical and contemporary b…
Royal Opera House, LondonJean Abreu (below) has marvellous hands " big, blunt and tactile " and in Blood they're possibly the most expressive part of his performance. At regular in…
Some people are born to dance, as this trio of talented siblings " Yury, Zenaida and Nadia " effortlessly demonstrateReading on mobile? Click here to watch on YouTubeDynastic inheritance is …
Sadler's Wells, LondonThere can be no better bargain on the British stage right now than a ticket to the Sampled season at Sadler's Wells, and especially to its two performances of Anne Tere…
I wish I'd been able to catch the young Rudolf Nureyev " just one of many dancers I'd kill to have seen. Who's on your personal if-only list?In late July, English National Ballet will be giv…
It's disturbing. It's hallucinatory. And it could be the shape of things to come. Judith Mackrell watches a show that turns dance into a digital dreamscapeIn a converted industrial space on …
Jean Abreau: Blood | SampledJean Abreau: Blood, LondonJean Abreu has always been a performer of rare intensity, but in his latest production Blood he moves into ambitious new terrain. Twent…
Snape Maltings, AldeburghBenjamin Britten wrote very little for ballet. But as this programme of new, Britten-inspired dances reveals, the rhythmic detail of his music, the vibrancy of his o…
I should be focusing on their feet " but lately I can't stop staring at dancers' over-whitened teeth. Is it dentistry? Is it just, er, me?Dancers' bodies are the instruments through which th…
Royal Opera House, LondonBy a coincidence of programming, all four principals who have left the Royal this season have given farewell performances in Kenneth MacMillan's Mayerling. Compared …
The Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet Flanders: Britten Dances | The Forsythe Company: Study #3The Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet Flanders: Britten Dances, SnapeBenjamin Britten only choreographe…
Royal Albert Hall, LondonThe poetic core of Swan Lake is the act two pas de deux, that perfect lost-in-the-forest encounter in which Odette and Siegfried unfold the secrets of their hearts t…
Videos of sweet children dancing is one thing " but watching ever-younger kids attempt an adult artform is questionableReading on mobile? Click to view.Bess Kargman's First Position, which w…
After the acid attack on Sergei Filin, the outspoken principal dancer has been told his services are no longer required. But he's unlikely to go quietly ...Nikolai Tsiskaridze, the hugely po…
Southbank Centre, LondonThe four male performers in Lucy Guerin's Untrained have to be changed at unusually regular intervals: the work's premise is to put two entirely novice dancers onstag…
Sadler's Wells, LondonClod Ensemble has always been the joint project of choreographer-director Suzy Willson and composer Paul Clark. In their new production, however, it's the music th…
Suddenly two of the Royal's biggest stars are leaving the company. Why are they going " and who will replace them?Much of the UK ballet world is in mourning today, following the announcement…
Queen Elizabeth Hall, LondonVaslav Nijinsky didn't perform in his own ballet, The Rite of Spring. Yet the miraculous prowess of his dancing and the troubled mystery of his genius have become…
Clod Ensemble: Zero | Northern Ballet Mixed BillClod Ensemble: Zero, LondonMixing up dance, art installation and music theatre, the Clod Ensemble can always be guaranteed to transform whatev…
Ballets with plotlines are back in fashion. Which story would you love to see danced on stage?As I've written elsewhere on the site today, most of the story ballets in the repertory are base…
While contemporary dance has experimented brilliantly with new narrative techniques, classical choreography has been stuck in a rutThe story ballet seems to be on the brink of a renaissance.…
Sadler's Wells, LondonThe genius of Stravinsky's 1913 ballet, The Rite of Spring, looked two ways: embodying the atavistic impulses of human nature and the shattering birth pangs of modern a…
A century on from its Paris premiere, the creative aftershocks generated by Stravinsky's work continue " as Jay Bacal and Stephen Malinowski's digital visualisation of the score showsReading…
Royal Opera House, LondonIt has a bird woman and a prince, love and transformation, but Wayne McGregor's first fairytale ballet is light years away from the world of Swan Lake. His narrative…
Sadler's Wells' annual taster programme promises to be mouthwatering " and the Bolshoi arrives in London with an inspiring mixture of established stars and vibrant new talentBritten DancesBe…
