Pauline Clayden obituary
Pauline Clayden was one of the dancers who formed the core of the Sadler’s Wells Ballet in the decade after the second world war,...
Dance
News about dance performances, festivals, companies, choreography, and artists.
The Raygun documentary ducks a big question about the Olympic fame of a ‘dorky white academic’
Early in Netflix’s new documentary, Untold Raygun: Breaking Badly, Australian B-girl Rachael Gunn, recounts a session she had...
Tilda Swinton’s blast from the past, Kevin Bridges at large and a deepfake ballet: theatre, comedy and dance to see this autumn
Theatre Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy Ava Pickett has an impressive track record of imaginative historical dramas, including...
Mere Mortals review – a dazzling, maddening ballet for the AI age
Edinburgh Playhouse San Francisco Ballet brings a spectacular collision of dance, music and digital wizardry to the Edinburgh...
When Prophecy Fails review – gripping dive into a doomsday cult
Studio theatre, Edinburgh Groupwork’s physical theatre show captures the real story of a midwest mystic from the 50s and the...
From The Dog Stars to Erykah Badu: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Contents 1Going out: Cinema 2Going out: Gigs 3Going out: Art 4Going out: Stage 5Staying in: Streaming 6Staying in: Games 7Staying...
Sydney Dance Company’s 40 years at the Wharf – in pictures
Sydney Dance Company is marking four decades since it made its home at the Wharf theatres at Walsh Bay. As part of the celebrations, the company is...
Sheila Mathews obituary
Sheila Mathews, who has died aged 99, was a West End musical performer who became an early star of ITV when it was launched in 1955. She went on to...
Those People review – a double act with raw passion and no filter
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Are they besties, housemates or more than that? Lara Ciulli and Riana White keep the audience guessing in a gripping...
‘Ab-sol-utely incredible!’ The blockbuster ballet that says Pandora’s box unleashed AI
She was the first woman, according to myth, and she let loose all the evils and sorrows of humanity. But Aszure Barton thinks Pandora’s had a bad rap...
A supreme being, the nearly naked show and politics with paws: Edinburgh fringe pick’n’mix
From Taiwanese steampunk dance to Australian climate comedy, here are 13 quick-fire fringe reviews - All our Edinburgh festival reviews For new...
Dirty Dancer review – Swayze stan is like a whirlwind as she replays 80s favourite
Underbelly Cowgate, Edinburgh Melissa Firlit recreates Dirty Dancing in a one-woman show that mixes trivia, personal memories and a singalong Dirty...
Ihsane review – Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui leads us from brutal tragedy to euphoric harmony
Festival theatre, Edinburgh The choreographer combines a homophobic killing from 2012 with a remembrance for his father in an often rapturous show...
Shapes and ladders: Edinburgh fringe’s dance shows reach for the sky
With brute strength and beauty, party tricks and personal revelations, this year’s dance and circus programme has ambition and a spirit of...
Exit review – a circus squad who really drive each other up the wall
Zoo Southside, Edinburgh The acrobats in this symphony of ins and outs build and break tension as they clamber over the set together Four performers...
‘We risked our lives for £250’: how pole dancing exploded out of strip clubs and became serious art
With abs like Olympians and skin like hide, pole dancers are besieging the Edinburgh fringe. We meet four high-flying, physics-defying acts tackling...
Taiwan Season: The Wall review – close encounters in a city that never sleeps
Summerhall, Edinburgh Seed Dance Company deliver a show that builds in intensity as it riffs on imprisonment and estrangement Taiwan’s Seed Dance...
I Made You a Mixtape review – frothy fringe fun as dorm mates party like it’s 1999
TheSpace Triplex, Edinburgh Nine college students fall out and make up as they dance to punk-pop and alt-rock in this lively show This is such a...
Not for Glory review – folk dance and bagpipes, but not as we know them
Assembly @ Dance Base, Edinburgh Jack Anderson and Charlotte Mclean began as champions of classic Irish and Highland steps. Here, with piper Malin...
Flamenc Oh!! review – frills, flirting and fierce footwork in breezy Spanish comedy
You don’t need to know anything about flamenco to enjoy Flamenc Oh!! That overuse of exclamation marks gives you an idea of the subtlety of this...
Boys Don’t Dance review – jump back to the 80s to celebrate the power of pop
Assembly @ Dance Base, Edinburgh A sunny mashup of music accompanies choreographer Marc Brew’s feelgood coming-of-age story Marc Brew made the...
These Violent Delights review – Scottish Ballet’s feverish Romeo and Juliet is bold and unsettling
Edinburgh film festival A taut, dreamlike reimagining of Shakespeare’s tragedy strips away romance in favour of dread, creating an engrossing and...
‘Murakami saw his book come alive!’: the Japanese company bringing the author’s science fiction masterpiece to the stage
A play based on the writer’s dreamlike novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is touring the world, riding a wave of interest in...
This Is Ballroom review – pulsating documentary tells story of Brazilian ballroom
Paris is Burning gets a South American update in a film that shows the Brazilian scene as a space of solidarity and tension Originating among the...
Magic tricks, Palestinian circus, and a ‘kinky Hamlet’: the must-see shows at 2026’s Edinburgh fringe
Kirsty Mann: CorpseTo 30 August, Red lecture theatre at Summerhall Kirsty Mann bought a house – and it came with a ghost. Winner of the best theatre...
Cats review – it’s a jellicle jumble as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s moggies get the zoomies
Regent’s Park Open Air theatre, London Macavity and co are back, with the balance in Drew McOnie’s stylish revival tipped in favour of dance and...
Carlos Acosta: Myths and Modern Masters review – superstar returns with style, the Stones and his daughter
Royal Opera House, London Mixing contemporary, Cuban and classical works, Acosta has charisma to burn and is accompanied by an impressive cohort It’s...
Fame the Musical review – stardom seekers light up the stage like a flame
As a real-life cohort of performers head to Edinburgh hoping to achieve recognition at the fringe, at the opposite end of the UK a revival of David...
Acrobatic, goofy and super-fast: the biama battles redefining Ivorian dance culture
The 400-strong crowd, perched on plastic chairs and wooden benches in Abidjan’s Yopougon-Selmer neighbourhood, roared with approval as Sauce Graine...
‘It’s OK to mess around’: how ‘mop man’ stole the show at Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games
The 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow have already provided plenty of highlights. But fans across the world have been dazzled by one particular...
Marianela: Timeless review – perfect ballerina shows off a leg-whipping, frictionless mastery
Royal Opera House, London In what is officially her first solo show, the star principal marshals technically peerless performances from a tremendous...
‘The Messi of ballet’: Marianela Núñez, the Buenos Aires bombshell shaking up British dance
The superlative Royal Ballet star finally has her own show. She talks about fabulous footwork, her Argentina-inspired leotard – and why she named her...
Oona Doherty: Leather Jacket review – dancers delight in their hard sweaty work
Bold Tendencies, London Slaps, beats and bounces underscore the unified collective pleasure of sharing a rhythm in this world premiere of the...
Shechter II: In the Brain review – a thrilling release of rave and ritual
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London Hofesh Shechter’s latest doesn’t break new ground, but its exceptional dancers throw themselves into a moody,...
Taking salsa classes can improve mental health, Oxford study suggests
Salsa is one of the most popular dance forms, with hundreds of millions of followers worldwide. A mix of Caribbean, Spanish and African musical...
Noel Tobin obituary
In the late 1960s my friend Noel Tobin, who has died aged 80, and his wife Gerry became deeply concerned about the fatalities and life-changing...
‘I just knew it would sound incredible!’: why the Globe is giving Shakespeare some flamenco fire
Love’s Labour’s Lost offers a heady mix of passion and death – which makes the Spanish art form a perfect match, says director Indiana Lown-Collins....
Edinburgh festival 2026: 10 terrific shows we’ve already reviewed
From returning comedy award winner Sam Nicoresti to Flo & Joan’s cheeky One Man Musical, these are surefire standouts at the fringe Edinburgh...
I fell in love with ballet as a young girl – now it’s keeping me active in my eighties
The first time I saw a show, I felt like I had discovered a new language. It’s since become one of my greatest pleasures When I was a young girl...
Living Image: Chapter 1 review – five days to reanimate a legendary show you’ve never seen
Siobhan Davies Studios, London Watching a group of artists produce new work based on Davies’s 1977 classic Sphinx, which none of them know, makes for...
–320°F review – join Cleopatra, Faust and the Pied Piper on a zany odyssey
Sadler’s Wells, London Hideki Noda’s spectacular vision of villainous biotech and bone conduction is full of dazzling coups but gets bogged down in...
Beyond human: Montpellier Danse festival delivers one feat after another
This year’s celebration of contemporary dance in the French city is bold, baffling and breathtaking, with some high-voltage performers Launched in...
