Find ballet and dance reviews

The Hungarian National Ballet brilliantly closes the season with the world premiere of Marianna Venekei’s version of Tennessee Williams’ classic A Streetcar Named Desire on music by László Dés.

Tango infused contemporary dance sizzles on a hot summer evening. Sometimes tempestuous, sometimes tender; four couples oscillate between summer storms and wintry chills. Tangent, choreographed by Martin Lawrence opens a triple bill by the Richard Alston Dance Company at Sadlers Wells. He draws inspiration from Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas played on stage by pianist Jason Ridgway. 

Johan Inger’s Carmen is back on stage in Madrid, seducing CND's audience once again.

Rosas’ exhilarating performance of Keersmaeker’s iconic piece

Piccolo Teatro celebrates its 70th anniversary with the best Italian independent contemporary dance company, Aterballetto.

Scottish Ballet meets the complex challenges of two great contemporary choreographers with considerable beauty 

This ballet has evoked the same general criticism as the book and the film

There was complete assurance in Skylar Brandt's performance and there’s no doubt that she’s a bona fide contender for a future slot as a principal dancer.

Johan Inger's new Peer Gynt ballet fails to convince in Basel

This Ashton programme at the Royal Ballet displays all the hallmarks of the Ashton style; lightness, musicality and a beautiful quality of stillness.

It’s full of rich characters and a great story that weaves farce, tragedy, exotic music, and outstanding stagecraft together into an experience that takes you away.

Fantastical, innocent and full of wonder.

When you add it all up, this was a perfect closing show. It wasn’t without flaws but they were minor and the good far outweighed the bad.

Two fine choreographers and the Orchestra La Scintilla heralded two world premiere performances of new ballets at the Zurich opera house.

Space-Age Ballet Frontier premiered to honour JFK. 

Teatro alla Scala ballet is definitely on the rise. Bigonzetti creates Progetto Händel on Zakharova and Bolle, prompting a standing ovation of almost 20 minutes  

Annabelle Lopez Ochoa has created a masterpiece with her A Streetcar Named Desire for Scottish Ballet.

Alas, putting two stars (Kochetkova and Cornejo) together is no guarantee of success and that was certainly the case here.

Virtuosity commanded the stage in the first half, drama and mood in the second, with Liam Scarlett’s new ballet a fitting tribute to the retiring Zenaida Yanowsky

Britain's oldest dance company continues to entertain, challenge and inspire with yet another well-rounded triple bill 

A moving, meditative evening with the dancers of Abraham.In.Motion in Kyle Abraham's latest and perhaps most personal work at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts 

Los Angeles Dance Festival 2017 runs for four nights, includes 19 companies and features a highly diverse array of contemporary dance styles.

The Scala Ballet performs a daring triple bill this Spring, showcasing young Italian choreographers alongside one of Balanchine's masterpieces, Symphony in C.

After being banned in Soviet times, The Bright Stream made a glorious comeback in a new version by Alexei Ratmansky. 

Richmond Ballet's dancers are an engaging bunch who aim to please and their goodwill radiated from the stage.

Montréal's Theatre Maisonneuve was packed almost to the the gods for the opening night of Rain, performed by renowned Belgian company Rosas. 

The world premiere of Figures of Speech at Alonzo King LINES Ballet was notable for the striking, individual beauty of the dancers, and for its towering score, that incorporated fragments of recorded poetry in languages currently threatened with extinction.  

The show stealer is the opening scene of Act III, as the curtain rises to reveal a line of females, both human and forest-creature, seated, waiting to try on the slipper the prince holds. It’s brilliant, laugh-out-loud clever.

A career defining performance by Edward Watson, well supported by a memorable cast

Le Mariage de Figaro is meant to be a bit of a romp; a frothy drawing-room comedy of errors. In this respect, the National Ballet of Ukraine's production works perfectly.

Catch this company wherever and whenever you can.

An evening of acrobatic dance exploring an ecological truism: water’s essential role in survival.

Open-ended works provide different angle on Ballet across America

Scottish Ballet’s Each Other taps into the visceral impact from the image of worn, discarded shoes to create a poignant and compelling piece about the tensions between different groups.

Three dysfunctional fairy tales are presented by Vardimon’s JV2 at Sadler’s Wells Lilian Baylis studio.

I cannot sufficiently repeat that Peter Martins’ legacy will be measured by the number of outstanding dancers he has nurtured during his tenure.

Sterling Hyltin owns The Concert and seems to be having the best time of anybody onstage.

Misty Copeland curates the first of a richly diverse programme celebrating American dance

Newcomers Imre van Opstal and Marne van Opstal present their first work alongside established choreographers as Sol Leon and Paul Lightfoot. A programme where new and old, humoristic and dark meet.

Men and Girls Dance created by Fevered Sleep is like a perfectly cooked soufflé. Astonishingly light and delicately fragranced. It's flawlessness is finite, the subtle favours and gossamer texture melt away as it touches your tongue. Exquisitely simple, but devilishly difficult to do well. 

Give Larissa Savaliev full credit for all the work she’s put into this over the years. YAGP is and will continue to be the number one dance competition in the world.

It was a successful program that showed off the considerable range of a talented and charming troupe.

An outstanding exploration of trauma and reprieve. 

A memorable Manon in Budapest 

Changes in pace for a brilliantly dynamic company.

Discovering the early works that created Matthew Bourne's style.

The Royal Ballet’s 50th anniversary revival of Balanchine’s abstract ballet Jewels is a showpiece displaying a company of dancers in celebratory form. 

It’s here where the full onslaught of Kochetkova’s formidable talent comes into play. As Odile, she was virtuosic, wondrously flashy, whipping off multiple pirouettes and high arabesques with a powerful attack.

A successful program of Kylian, Peck and Forsythe. 

I can’t help feeling that an opportunity was missed.