Cloud Dance Festival Writers

This really isn't a week for indulging in lots of dance shows; April is settling into a much calmer pace, which means that there's only two shows to recommend seeing this week. Royal Ballet - Sweet Violets / Carbon Life / Polyphonia: 10 & 12 April (to 23 April) Tickets & details: www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=18146 (returns & day tickets only) Trailer: youtu.be/R3vHgPUGN1Y This triple bill has been eagerly anticipated, with much discussion about it in the press,... Continue reading

A friend recently described to me how she considers herself to be entertained if she has been moved, upset, or even traumatised by a piece of dance or theatre. And I think I know what she means. I recently saw Fleur Darkin’s ‘Experience’, and while there was much beautiful movement and clever use of props and speech throughout, the part which engaged me the most was the ‘London’ moment, referencing last summer’s riots with heavy... Continue reading

I believe that community dance, that catch-all umbrella term which seems to mean such different things to different people, is a wonderful thing. Dance can enrich the lives of all who encounter it, and it seems odd to even categorise some of it as community and some of it as what… cliquey? Not for everyone? Superior, perhaps? Yes, those dancers gifted with hypermobility have always and will always have the quality of ‘the other’ about... Continue reading

We hope that you're not too burned out after March's excesses of dance shows - and hope that you managed to see plenty of them while they were on. April is more modest in its offerings, and the relatively few dance shows can be a good thing - for example, so that you can see several of these shows more than once! Sadler's Wells Pet Shop Boys & Javier De Frutos - The Most Incredible... Continue reading

With Easter coming up, there's not as much on, but that hardly matters with the premiere of Liam Scarlett's new work for the Royal Ballet taking place on Thursday, accompanied by the premiere of Wayne McGregor's new work with music by Mark Ronson. Further down the road, St Petersburg's Eifman Ballet Theatre will be performing two unforgettable works at the Coliseum. Highlights Royal Ballet: Sweet Violets / Carbon Life / Polyphonia: 5 - 23 April... Continue reading

This is a week with several must-see performances, especially ENB's Beyond Ballets Russes programme - Faun(e) and Rite of Spring are absolutely amazing. As is Royal Ballet's Edward Watson, who stars as Romeo in the final performance of Romeo & Juliet on Saturday. And The Most Incredible Thing is finally back - while not the best dance show you'll see, it's definitely the best dance spectacle on at present - enjoy! Highlights English National Ballet's... Continue reading

Did DV8’s verbatim production of Can we talk about this? have to be monotonous? Was it contempt for the audience which drove them to relentlessly lambast us with noise and superfluous motion, or was it because of the subject matter? Does Lloyd Newson, to paraphrase, consider himself ‘morally superior’ to us? If I sound provoked and angry, then perhaps Lloyd Newson has achieved precisely what he set out to do. Can we talk about this?... Continue reading

The 'Burka Banksy' is how the female graffiti artist in Kabul is dubbed, in an article I found in a magazine left by a recycling-minded fellow South West Trains passenger. Shamsia Hassani sprays depictions of Muslim women, highlighting their oppression and position in modern society. She works in secret for fear of her safety, but still commits to making herself and her convictions in her own beliefs heard through her art. She is also a... Continue reading

I was lucky enough to get a place on Frantic Assembly's latest series of physical theatre workshops. As a company they use a lot of dance in their productions to explore the subtext in the work they produce. They find their movement vocabulary for each production through task-based choreographic exercises. For example, one of the tasks from their production of 'Lovesong' was to recreate the way that you casually brush away a piece of fluff... Continue reading

March is finally coming to an end, as is the flurry of dance shows from the last few weeks, and you'd be forgiven for wanting to sit this week out. But for those of you who want to see a few shows this week, there's still quite a few things to choose from... Highlight Royal Ballet, Romeo & Juliet: 21 - 24 March Royal Opera House Tickets & details: www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=17623 MacMillan's beloved adaptation of Romeo... Continue reading