List time!

OK it's the end of the year and even the decade so the List season is even crazier than usual this December. The Sunday Times, The Telegraph and the Guardian have all compiled lists for 2009 or written reviews of the decade.

Telegraph - Dance highlights of 2009
Telegraph - Dance: review of the decade
Sunday Times - Best dance of the decade
Guardian - review of the decade: dance

Bloggers are at it too, including Libby Costello, who writes for the London Dance website.

Here are my dance moments of the noughties, as Cloud Dance Festival says. This is very very subjective, mainly because I only moved to London in the middle of the decade, and didn't go to dance performances before. And then, I am not a critic, so I really don't see enough and I am sure some shows I have missed would deserve a mention! The thinking behind this very short list is to pick the shows where I went 'Wow, my friends have to see this', shows that I really felt were important and deserved to be seen, shows that opened my eyes to new things.

Royal Ballet of Flanders - Impressing the Czar.
I didn't know what to expect. The first part felt all over the place, there was so much stuff going on. Then In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated - it was like drinking a cold glass of water, it felt so pure and like watching ballet with a new eye. The third part, where all the dancers were dressed in school girls uniforms,made me want to stand up and shout out how great I was feeling.

Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal - Cafe Muller / Rite of Spring double-bill.
My first experience of Pina Bausch. The Rite of Spring, with its pile of earth on the stage, was so impactful - you really felt a drama was happening: a sacrifice was happening in front of your eyes.
Beyonce's Single Ladies video.
OK that's not a show, but what a dance moment, right? Watched millions of time on Youtube, copied and parodied ad finitum. The routine of the noughties. I think it will be as important as the Thriller dance routine.


Romeo Castellucci - Purgatorio
Not strictly dance, but what a piece of theatre. I was in shock after it.

Zero Degrees.
The London piece of the decade?