The Coronet Theatre is a charming Grade II listed venue, with a candle lit and uniquely furnished and beautiful bar it’s a perfect refuge on a winter’s evening in Notting Hill. Philip Glass’s magnificent work for organ and choral voice, Another look at harmony, accompanies the dance piece, Another Look at Memory presented by Institut francais and performed on The … [Read more...]
Reviews of Dance in London - Reviews of Dance at Sadler's Wells
If you are planning to visit London to see a Dance production on stage at one of the West End theatres, or in one of the many Off West End or Fringe venues, then maybe our Dance reviews section can be of help? Read one of the latest reviews or use the search button to find and view one of our previous reviews. We use a star rating system on our site.
BalletBoyz’ Them/Us at Sadler’s Wells
The first half of the show, a thirty-minute piece choreographed by the dancers is titled Them. It’s not boring because Balletboyz are fabulous dancers and for this reason, it’s enough to watch but the work itself feels shallow. It’s hard to work out what the point is except as a virtuoso display. The cube doesn’t add much either. Andrew Ellis, the lighting designer contributes occasional intense scenes of colour which are beautiful. The music composed by Charlotte Harding provides necessary substance to the work as it sweeps from gorgeous strings to strings with a driving beat which accompany the best section of dance, a virtuoso solo by dancer, Benjamin Knapper. Them has a running time of only 30 minutes which is just about right, not overlong.
Notwithstanding the limitations of Them the second half of the show, Us, after the interval is so satisfying you leave elated, amazed all over again by the impact of great contemporary dance when it happens in front of you again.
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Natalia Osipova – Pure Dance at Sadler’s Wells | Review
Natalia Osipova is the artistic director of this show and a principal dancer at The Royal Ballet, London. Pure Dance is a fine programme of seven short pieces varying in tone and form from contemporary dance to classical ballet. Osipova dances in six of the works and the seventh, a solo performed by David Hallberg, a principal guest artist at The Royal Ballet, is … [Read more...]
INALA with the Soweto Gospel Choir and International Dancers | Review
It is more than thirty years since the South African male choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo achieved global fame through the unorthodox route of collaboration with an American rock star. The result of that was the landmark album Graceland, made controversial by the fact that the star in question, Paul Simon, appeared to be breaking the cultural boycott imposed by … [Read more...]
Russell Maliphant Company’s Silent Lines | Review
Silent Lines is a new work choreographed by Russell Maliphant and performed by his dance company. It’s an abstract work relying on movement, music and clever light effects to absorb the audience which it successfully does. Much more so than his other recent work, The Golden Thread. Running at an hour Silent Lines opens with five dancers performing as indistinct … [Read more...]
Dangerous Liaisons an original dance adaptation | Review
This dance production of Dangerous Liaisons is set both at the time of writing and into the near future - perhaps a year or two leading up to the 92nd Academy Awards, not to take place until 9th February 2020, and then its aftermath. To set all the dancing in context, a relatively brief preamble in the form of a news magazine programme called ‘All Access Hollywood’ … [Read more...]
Breakin’ Convention Presents at the Lilian Baylis Studio
If surreal slapstick clown Bill Irwin and gravity-defying danseur Sergei Polunin had a love child, who was raised by suave French actor Jean Reno in a house built with the economic absurdity of Samuel Beckett, you’d have Yaman Okur. Whilst pianist Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven opens the act with a commanding turn at the grand piano, looking a groovy kind of gangly, like … [Read more...]
Heartbeat of Home at Piccadilly Theatre | Review
The backdrops and projections in Heartbeat of Home, of which there are many, recalled to my mind a line from the opening scene of the Thornton Wilder play Our Town: “There’s some scenery for those who think they have to have scenery”. Likewise, there’s a story for those who would prefer dance and music shows like this one to have some narrative structure: in short, … [Read more...]
Another Kind of Blue present the UK premiere of Flirt with Reality
There are two sections of such exciting poetic and visual beauty in Another Kind of Blue performed by this Netherlands-based contemporary dance company it’s unmissable. David Middendorp is the founding artistic director whose choreography and visual presentations teem with ideas and imaginative connections. He creates an incredible visual interplay between his … [Read more...]
Review of The Mother at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall
Perhaps being a non-parent has a lot to do with not quite being able to connect with The Mother - all I could see at face value was a storyline moving at a pace that varied between that of a marriage procession and a glacier, and a revolve that revolved and revolved some more, and when it was done revolving, started revolving back the other way. If you want to … [Read more...]