10 dance shows this autumn in London

A very subjective list: 10 dance highlights in September, October and November in London.

1. Rosas
The Flemish dance company presents 2 shows in one week: Rosas danst rosas with Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker reprising her original role, and a new work, Zeitung.
Keersmaeker is a legend, so if, like me, you've never seen her work, this is unmissable.
8-12 September, Sadler's Wells

2. Bonachela Dance Company
New work: The Land of Yes and the Land of No
I really enjoyed the extracts of this new piece that they performed on the steps of St Paul's cathedral in July. The company is made up of dancers who have worked with Rambert, Australian Dance Theatre and others, the score by Ezio Bosso was pretty stirring and I am curious about what the full piece will be like.
25-26 September, Southbank Centre

3. Crystal Pite's Kidd Pivot
Canadian choreographer with 'a distinctive, poetic sensibility and a capacity to create an onstage world of her own' (NY Times) who's never been seen in the UK before. She is influenced by Forsythe - yeah! All tickets £10 only - yeah again!
17-18 September, Sadler's Wells

4. In the spirit of Diaghilev
Four new works in one night. By Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Wayne McGregor, Russell Maliphant and Javier de Frutos. Very very promising.

13-17 October, Sadler's Wells

5. New McGregor at Royal Ballet
Always happy when the Royal Ballet put on some new work (the season also includes the usual Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker). And it's by McGregor - his last two pieces (Chroma and Infra) were big winners for me. Part of a triple-bill that includes Balanchine's Agon.
4-18 November, Royal Ballet

6. Lotte Van den Berg
Dutch theatre director known for a minimalist touch, in the UK for the first time. No idea what to expect, but, as I read somewhere once, it's good to be excited about what you don't know.
25-26 September, Sadler's Wells

7. Jiri Kilian

Another modern dance legend, Kilian was director of Nederlands Dans Theater. Like Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker (see number 1) I have never seen his work before, so can't miss this opportunity.

8-9 October, The Place

8. Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollak Dance Company (Dance Umbrella)
Dance In Israel recommends it! Part of Dance Umbrella, which brings so much more dance in October and November. (A post about that later probably)

18-19 October, Southbank Centre

9. Touch Wood

Season of works-in-progress from up-and-coming choreographers. To be very honest most of the names mean nothing to me, but I will try to go once to see how it feels to see such 'drafts'.

12 Sep - 3 Oct, The Place

10. Michael Clark Company
Dance to David Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop? I'm in!
28 Oct - 7 Nov, Barbican

Sasha Waltz - noBody

Really like this.


This is from 2002 - I feel so behind! Anyway.
More on Sasha Waltz and noBody here.

Dissecting a dance

Very interesting video over at the New York Times. Their chief dance critic disects a Merce Cunnigham solo. I think this is a great way to open dance to people, by doing something simple: explaining it!

Dissecting a Dance - New York Times.

Dance barriers

A debate has been going on in dance circles about the quality of British dance works, with John Ashford, who was director of The Place, saying they were not very exciting in an issue of Time Out a few months ago.

Luke Jennings from the Observer gets involved this week, when he reviews a double bill by Hagit Yakira and Sara Dowling from Laban Theatre (Laban is a famous contemporary dance school)

'The problem with this kind of work is not, as Ashford claims, that it's timorous. It's that a substantial cohort of theory-laden choreographers have lost sight of the fact that they work in the theatre, for the benefit of a paying audience. The hour-long Yakira/Dowling programme is notionally open to the public (who, after all, have bankrolled the whole thing), with tickets priced at £12. But there's no local advertising, and the fact that the blurb-sheet doesn't even bother to credit the dancers - I recognised the ever-excellent Elisabetta d'Aloia, but no one else - tells us that non-Laban outsiders are not expected to attend.

These invisible barriers - and you often get the same insiders-only vibe at the Place - are bad for dance. They indicate an indifference to public opinion which, as the economic purse-strings tighten, the art form can ill afford. The choreographers who will survive are those whose work speaks to those outside the bubble, not just those who know the secret handshake.'

Full review here.

Thoughts?