Find ballet and dance reviews

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

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.