Find ballet and dance reviews

The story of Mata Hari is a hot topic, now maybe more than ever, and Dutch National Ballet's strong reprise of Ted Brandsen's 2016 ballet comes at the right time.

A radical and challenging new look at La Bayadère that has the well-worn familiarity of something borrowed but also brings a distinctively and refreshingly new perspective 

In an entirely new version of the ballet, choreographer Christian Spuck wanted to explore the darker realms and fantasy of the ETA Hoffmann narrative that inspired Tchaikovsky’s suite.

Once again, kudos to Adam Sklute and Ballet West for putting on a program of mostly new or recent works created for the company.

Les Grands Ballets has a new Artistic Director – Ivan Cavallari – and 13 new dancers, mostly cherry-picked from some of Europe’s best ballet companies. Montreal audiences are in for a thorough journey through European contemporary ballet movements; which is not so far from the trajectory the previous Artistic Director Gradimir Pankov established during his tenure

Once again, Scottish Ballet produces another winner for the Edinburgh Festival Theatre with a double bill of ballets set to the emotive otherworldly harmonies of composer, Igor Stravinsky.

Artistic directors of Ballet Boyz Billy Trevitt and Michael Nunn stage a speed dating style collaboration, match making four choreographers with four composers. The quality of performance is top-notch, but the choreography is pot luck in places. 

Northern Ballet celebrates master choreographer Kenneth MacMillan with considerable style 

Is there anything Tiler Peck can’t do? After her just completed triumph in Swan Lake we’re obliged to say no.

The audience at Sadler's Wells welcomes Carlos Acosta like an old friend. Their whole-hearted warmth extends to embrace his fledging company Acosta Danza in its UK debut. Based in Havana, Cuba, this intrepid group of dancers is rapidly forging an international reputation. Punching above their weight they arrive in London with a programme of five contrasting works, and showcasing three choreographers from the Spanish-speaking world.

A held back season opener for NDT, in which pure dance takes centre stage.

As with Carroll’s original fantasy novel, Wheeldon’s wonderful ballet matures and pleases, yet more, at each revisit.   

What the choreography of everyday movement creates in the viewer is a sense of nostalgia and poignancy. 

Dance takes center stage in Lyric Opera of Chicago's bold season-opening co-production of Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice.

The powerful and appealing Hubbard Street contemporary dancers took audiences on a journey through the innards of Chicago's Harris Theater, in an 'immersive' experience choreographed and creative-directed by Peter Chu.  

Poetry infuses Tamara Rojo’s every step as Giselle in Akram Khan contemporary update of a ballet classic. 

Watching Twyla Tharp move now is a reminder of how much she has affected the landscape of dance during her lifetime.

Matthew Bourne is a master at creating theatrical splendor with the aid of a very healthy budget, an amazingly talented production staff and cast of dancers. His new ballet The Red Shoes is a set designer's dream.

As generations of dancers move on and off the stage, working hard for their very short lived moment in the spotlight, we can rest assured that there will be many classic Van Manen pieces in the repertoire for them to dance.

Athletic (modern) classics combined with playful Hans van Manen and romantic Kuindersma make for a great evening. Elisa Badenes and Anna Ol are superb.

Victor Ullate premieres his version of Carmen in Madrid’s Teatros del Canal. Mallarme’s story and Bizet’s score are updated in a sophisticated balletic rendering of the myth.

At the Edinburgh Playhouse, choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and her dance company Rosas present Rain, set to the music of minimalist composer Steve Reich, for the Edinburgh International Festival.

Jacob Jonas has taken the raw intensity of his dancers' best gifts and molded them into a figurative narrative. Ironically, the powerful qualities that Tim Hecker brought to On Me were not evident in his own performance.

If you are happy with simply watching beautiful bodies move through space with intermitent projections of underwater images, then you will thoroughly enjoy Aszure Barton's AWAA. For me, however, Barton has not yet mastered the craft of making an evening-long work.

For the Edinburgh International Festival, María Pagés Company offers a new perspective on the character of Carmen, from the Bizet opera, in their production Yo, Carmen at the Edinburgh Playhouse.

Wayne McGregor’s new dance work explores the relation between human bodies and technology as part of his curated installation +/- Human.

With Contrasts, the Mariinsky dancers are put under a multifaceted microscope. 

How does one condense a Tolstoy epic for the stage? In Anna Karenina, choreographer Alexei Ratmansky focuses on the three central characters, filleting the novel to its bare essentials. 

Rudolf Nureyev’s production of Romeo and Juliet erupts with life, giving the dancers of English National Ballet the opportunity to show off spectacular dancing and dramatic content, as well as coping with his highly technical, yet deceivingly simple looking, steps.

Rome Opera Ballet in Massine's Parade/Pulcinella "under the volcano" for the anniversary of Picasso's visit to Pompeii and Naples.

BalletNOW returns to the Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center in Los Angeles. The production features dancers from six different major ballet companies, but fails to impress.

A performance that led to the making of a new piece of history. Xander Parish made a Mariinsky Principal after a sublime performance of Swan Lake. 

If it were a film, I’d say Maillot’s Shrew is more of a trashy Franco-Russian Rom-Com with literary pretensions than an art film.

I have the sense that we’re only beginning to find out how great a dancer Christine Shevchenko will be.

The fireworks – when they came – were explosive, Viktoria Tereshkina and Kimin Kim igniting the Royal Opera House stage in a frenzy of effervescent footwork.

Being able to see all these dancers together was a rare opportunity to compare how differently they work and what each of them brings to classical ballet that is unique to them.

As dance experiences go, this one was hard to beat.

Pushing the boundaries of leading edge tap dancing, which makes its own music, in a show that starts slowly and builds to a corruscating climax 

Mark Ryden's design for Whipped Cream is a masterpiece that elevates this work immeasurably.

Tackling existential themes Alain Platel’s les ballets C de la B bring the audience to the edge of catastrophe through frantic movement.

Oregon Ballet Theater closed its season with the first instalment of a new program in support of emerging female choreographers. New work by Helen Simoneau and Gioconda Barbuto made a particularly striking impression.

A world premiere that shows Alexander Whitley to be at the leading edge of new movement.  There are no stars in this 8 Minutes, other than the Sun.   

TCHAIKOVSKY, PRO ET CONTRA is a ballet by Boris Eifman that beautifully examines how Tchaikovsky's internal struggles inspired his amazing music that inspires still.

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