Choreographed by BRB director Carlos Acosta after the original 19th century production by Marius Petipa, the show is based on Miguel Cervantes’ classic novel which tells of the adventures of the hapless knight Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza.

Set in Spain, it is a glorious comedic romp filled with colourful characters and technically complex dancing.

“Winter is the perfect time for Don Quixote,” says Carlos. “You go and see Don Quixote and you see the sun – it’s happy, it’s colourful, it’s funny, it’s a parody and it makes you laugh.

“You have this wonderful funny quirky duo in Don Quixote and Sancho Panza but then you also have so many other characters – gypsies, fishermen, dryads and all different kinds of dance.

“It is unusual in ballet because it has a happy ending, nobody dies at the end of the ballet like normal ballet tragedies. And it’s great for family, if you want to bring your kids, this is the ballet to go and watch.”

Carlos, who was a principal with the Royal Ballet, danced Don Quixote many times and created a version for the Royal Ballet in 2013 and so, when he took over as director at BRB in 2020, he was determined to create a new stage version.

With beautiful sets and costumes by Tim Hatley and video projection by Nina Dunn, the show premiered at Birmingham Hippodrome in 2022 before touring and was a huge hit with audiences and critics.

For Carlos, new work is part of the evolution of Birmingham Royal Ballet. In the past five years since taking the helm he has overseen the premieres of a host of new productions including the sell-out Black Sabbath – The Ballet, Luna, City of a Thousand Trades and Lazuli Sky.

“My aim is to bring new work to the company,” Carlos says. “It keeps people engaged and gives the dancers opportunities to perform works they otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to dance.

“Even with the classics like Don Quixote, I am always thinking outside the box, always trying to bridge the gap between the 19th century and today.

“We should be able to do more when we are creating a work, so I’m bringing projections or I’m delivering it in a completely different way with aesthetics so that it feels like we are doing it now instead of just a reproduction of Petipa.”

Don Quixote may be joyous to watch but, says Carlos, it is technically a very difficult ballet to perfect. And its challenge is part of the reason he was keen to introduce it to the company.

“The dancing is very hard in Don Quixote,” he explains. “It pushes the dancers and that helps them to improve.

“To me, what I am putting on stage is sacred and it is clear to everyone in the company by the way that I cast that I am pushing for excellence. I pushed and I worked so hard myself as a dancer and it’s the only way I know to get you there. I try to transfer that into the dancers.”

Carlos is eager for the BRB dancers to reach the highest levels of performance.
“It’s important to recognise that being a professional dancer means being consumed by what you do. It’s a lifestyle, it’s not something that you do occasionally.

“Maybe it’s not for everybody because it’s a very stressful environment, it’s the touring, the loneliness, the injuries. But it’s always going to be a battle of the mind over the body.

“By breathing it, by living it – that is the only way towards improvement. And for those who are willing to put up with the work and show results, I will be there to promote them. And there is a lot of great talent coming up through the company.”

Among that talent is principal Beatrice Parma who won the Outstanding Female Classic Performance at the National Dance Awards in June for her role as Lise in La Fille mal gardée and also won Dance Europe’s Dancer of the Year Award 2025.

“Beatrice is a very versatile ballerina,” Carlos says. “In Fille she is pure Ashton with great technical ability and then in Luna, that is very hard contemporary language so to have a ballerina who mastered those two spectrums of dance is incredible and people took notice of that.

“It is great to see how some people just rise to the challenge and she is a ballerina that doesn’t rest. She wants more, she is 100% committed and if you have that attitude you see the results.”

Carlos has also received accolades in the past year being awarded an honorary degree by University of Birmingham in July and winning the UK Theatre Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre in October.

“The theatre award was amazing and unexpected,” he says. “It was for the productions I’ve put on, all the things I am programming. It was fantastic not just for me but also for the ballet sector to be recognised in the world of theatre.”

Looking ahead, Carlos hopes to continue to develop the company, encourage improvements in its dancers, expand its touring and create or commission new work for audiences.

“If you ask me, I want more, I want everything for this company – but only one step at a time,” he says.

“I think so far I’m very happy that I have contributed in a big way to this company’s history by taking them to places where the company had never been – Luxembourg, the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury or the Kennedy Center in Washington. And then in the future I’m also looking for other opportunities to travel to other places and give them the experience of what it is to dance in some of these places.

“And I am proud of works like Black Sabbath and Don Quixote. I would say to people who don’t know Don Quixote to give it a chance because it’s packed with all the ingredients of a popular show. It’s a show which is going to give the audience a great feeling and great escapism.”

Birmingham Royal Ballet Carlos Acosta’s Don Quixote is at Lowry, Salford from 5-7 March 2026.

Feature image: Matador Scene featuring Brandon Lawrence as Espada Photo with Artists of Birmingham Royal Ballet; photo: Emma Kauldhar

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The show, which brings together agility, acrobatics, dance, digital projection and a shape-shifting set, is the Warwickshire-based company’s most ambitious theatre production so far – and, say the team, audiences have been responding brilliantly to its jaw-dropping feats and its important message.

Created by Motionhouse co-founder and artistic director Kevin Finnan together with the company’s associate director Daniel Massarella and the dancers, Hidden explores our sense of shared humanity and how, even in the darkest of times, people will come together to support each other.

“The reaction from audiences has been quite overwhelming,” Daniel says. “We’ve had standing ovations at every venue. When a work is being created you think it’s going in the right direction but it’s only when it’s in front of an audience that you really get to see its success.

“What is great about the work is that it’s not one-dimensional. You can take away from it however you are feeling on that day, or whatever has come out in the press or has happened in the world at that point.

“Hidden strips people back to their basic humanity, when all we have is each other and that’s the only way we can get through life’s challenges.”

The show makes bold use of projection, with performers interacting with moving images of land and cityscapes, speeding trains and digital screens.

“It’s the first time we’ve used this amount of projection and people are blown away by that,” says Daniel. “People are also blown away by the skill level of the company, it’s one of the ‘danciest’ shows we’ve done, integrated with the highest level of circus. So there’s something for everyone – some people like the digital, the gaming and the more cinematic experience and the more emotional people like that emotional draw, that it makes you feel something.”

Kevin was inspired to create Hidden after watching international catastrophes including floods, wildfires and war and seeing that with every disaster there is also resilience through human connection and kindness.

“Hidden is a show about us,” Kevin explains. “There are things that are very dark moments for people all around the world. And as well as this, within our own lives everyone encounters moments that are really truly dark.

“But then Hidden is the thing that comes through in the darkest moments – it is when people can be at their very best and come to work together and to be together. So, rather than worrying about ‘us’ and ‘them’, we help each other and support each other.

“As well as the darkness, we are seeing that element of support that is so often hidden – and we need to celebrate that and celebrate humanity and the very good people we can all be.”

Founded in 1988 and based in Leamington Spa, Motionhouse has built up a reputation for breathtaking outdoor spectacle and imaginative indoor productions. These visual and physical effects are the company’s way of telling its stories.

“When I make a show, all of the flying and the film, what that’s there for is to engage and make the show entertaining to a wide range of people,” Kevin explains. “But the reason to make the show is to connect with people as best we can.

“When someone comes up to me in tears and says ‘that moved me more than I’ve been moved in a long time’, even if it’s just one person on the tour, that’s the point. The fact that we are getting that in most venues on this tour is the whole point of everything we do.

“You come to the theatre to be together with the artists and share the experience and then hopefully after the show the audience will take something away. For me the most important thing is saying we are not alone and you can communicate – that is what we should all be doing.”

And the company promises there will be thrills for people familiar with Motionhouse and for those for whom Hidden is their first experience of the company.

“It’s not a dance show, it’s not a circus show, it’s not a film show. It’s combining all of those art forms. It’s like having a smoothie with very different flavours which ultimately makes a very nice cocktail.” says Daniel.

“When you come in having seen what we do before there is definitely a pressure and expectation there, especially for Kevin, because you always have to be better than your last show. But we did it, and the audience response speaks volumes for that.”

The team are looking forward to bringing the show to The Lowry in Salford

“The 2026 tour kicks off at the Lowry in Manchester in January,” Daniel says. “We’ve never been on the main stage of the Lowry before so we’re really excited about that.”

Hidden has already built up a strong reputation and has bookings into 2028 and Kevin promises all audiences are in for a treat.

“If you come and see any of our shows you will see a tremendous burst of exciting energy on the stage, you will see phenomenal dancers doing incredible things. It will be dynamic – there will be people flying through the air and all sorts of physical wonders and spectacle.

“Hidden is beautiful as well as powerful, engaging and fun. When you come away you will have had a wonderful evening where you have seen things that moved your heart and you will have seen things that made you joyful about who we are and what we can be.”

Hidden is at Lowry, Salford on Friday 30 January 2026 before continuing on tour.

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By Diane Parkes

When choreographer and dancer Michael Keegan-Dolan was creating his production MÁM, he turned to the music and landscape of his native Ireland for inspiration.

“I was born in Ireland in 1969. There was a lot going on politically and economically. I think much of the work I make comes from where and how I was formed,” he says.

“I perceive the world through that history, our native language, the landscape and our musical tradition – and MÁM is very linked to that. When I made the piece in 2019 it was an expression of my relationship to many of these things – from land to history to folklore to mythology to music to religion, to spirituality.”

Having moved to Irish-speaking West Kerry in the year he created the work, Michael says the spirit of Ireland is inescapable in the land and its people.

“The foundations of the making of the piece were my moving to the West Kerry Gaeltacht,” he recalls. “When I stand in my garden in West Kerry, I can see Skellig Michael, the iconic island, a UNESCO site, kind of floating in the distance in the Atlantic Ocean. And we grow some of our own food here, in that ancient West Kerry soil, so when we eat our carrots, broccoli or cabbage, we are kind of imbibing Kerry!

“When I go to the supermarket and I talk to the people there, they might speak with a particular rhythm and they might make a joke about something West Kerry. When you speak in the Irish language your brain is functioning in an entirely other way. So it’s a powerful place to reevaluate who you are in an ancient landscape where people have been living for a long time. It has endured conquest and famine and war but people are still here – living, breathing, talking, making music and celebrating life.”

Musicality is an integral part of MÁM which features the music of Irish traditional concertina player Cormac Begley and European music collective s t a r g a z e performing live on stage alongside 11 dancers and a young girl.

“My relationship to the traditional music in MÁM is through the lens of Cormac, through the ancestry and connections that Cormac has,” Michael says. “Then my aspiration was to put around his sound a European classical/contemporary sound. It could be from any time – they play some Telemann, 17^th century German music, in the show also, so there’s a European tradition around an Irish tradition in conversation.

“Through that, we made a piece that feels direct, immediate and visceral, poetic and imaginative.”

Michael was artistic director of Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre between 1997 and 2015 before founding Teaċ Daṁsa in 2016. The company features dancers from across the globe performing works strongly grounded in Ireland’s heritage. The company’s first production, Swan Lake/Loch na hEala in 2016 combined dance, storytelling and live music in a new interpretation of the classic ballet.

This was followed by MÁM which was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production when it performed to sell-out audiences at London’s Sadlers Wells in 2020. MÁM has toured to venues in Europe, New Zealand, Australia, North and South America and Taiwan and Michael says audiences everywhere respond to it well.

“MÁM creates an experience for the dancers dancing it, connecting, releasing and breathing in these rhythmical ways. And there’s this lovely collective truth about MÁM – it was made collectively and is performed collectively and I think that’s a beautiful thing to behold.”

The show is coming to Lowry on 3 and 4 February, the first date of a 9-venue tour presented by Dance Consortium, a group of 24 large-scale venues aiming to bring the best contemporary dance from across the world to local audiences in the UK and Ireland. And Michael says each audience member will have their own unique response to the production.

“An important aspect about dance is how it can connect you to your being, to reality. It kind of forces you into life. I’ve made work built around stories like Swan Lake and they are exciting but ultimately what we probably need most as a species just now is to switch our brains off a bit more and to allow ourselves to feel a bit more. That’s what I’m working on with the dances I’m making.

“It’s challenging sometimes because audiences’ expectations have been conditioned over time. We go, we sit, we get impressed and we think there is something to ‘get’ and if we haven’t ‘got’ it then it hasn’t been a good experience.

“But I think we also need to work a little bit more to empower audiences that whatever you take is valid. It’s yours. If what you feel is really strange and nothing like the person next to you that’s really exciting for me – and to own that and to feel empowered by your own imagination and your own perception of reality, I’m all for that.”

MÁM is at Lowry, Salford on Tuesday 3 & Wednesday 4 February at 7.30pm. Tickets: 0161 876 2000

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Artist and stage designer John Macfarlane has created stunning sets for shows across the globe but there was one story he really wanted to work on – Prokofiev’s ballet Cinderella.
So when former Birmingham Royal Ballet Director David Bintley decided to create a new production of Cinderella for 2010, John was delighted to be given the task.

“Cinderella was the one I wanted to do,” he recalls. “It’s always attracted me because of the music. For such a well-known story, the music is very dark and I think most artists and designers are always more inspired by something dark and magical. With Cinderella there’s so much for you to play with.”

John had worked with BRB in 1990 designing the iconic sets for the company’s production of The Nutcracker – a show which is greatly loved and still wows audiences most Christmases. But this was the first time he had collaborated with David Bintley.

“When David asked me to do Cinderella I was delighted, not just to work on Cinderella but also to work with him. That was the one chance we got to work together.

“I think in a sense the best experiences you have are when the person who is asking you to do something is on the same wavelength as you are. Then the discussion is quite minimal because you both want the same thing. He wanted to bring out the dark side as well and seemed very easy with what I was doing.”

A gift from David to Birmingham to celebrate the 20th anniversary of BRB’s move to the city, Cinderella premiered at Birmingham Hippodrome in November 2010 where it received critical acclaim and thrilled audiences.

With Cinderella being such a familiar story, the production needed to give audiences a tale they recognized but also provide plenty of suspense and surprises.

“My starting point is always ‘don’t make it too pretty.’ None of these big classic ballets are lovely cuddly stories,” John explains.

“The contrast in Cinderella’s circumstances is absolutely critical to the ballet. You have to believe in the first scenes of Cinderella to then see the contrast. There’s very little light music in that first scene with her in the kitchen so it should be like there’s no hope for her.

“If you don’t feel that then you don’t get this lovely moment when suddenly the fire pops out and something clearly magical is going to happen. If something magical doesn’t happen at that point you are going to shortchange your audiences as the audience is going to be coming in asking how is she going to the ball, how will the ball end, how will they do the clock?”

John’s transformation scene from ash girl Cinderella to belle of the ball is indeed magical – not least as the lizards, frogs and mice of the kitchen become her attendants.
“I was going to do lizard footmen whether anyone wanted them or not because I absolutely love designing characters with animal heads,” laughs John. “In Cinderella it is really important that you have this world that the Fairy Godmother builds. She takes the little critters from the kitchen, as Disney and many people before him did, and she turns them into coachmen and pages and all the magical things that take Cinderella to the ball.”

John painstakingly ensured the creatures were accurately portrayed. “It’s like when I did the rats for Nutcracker,” he says. “You have to be anatomically correct and they have to look real so I did about four or five sheets of detailed drawings of lizards.

“As soon as they are beautifully made you believe in them completely – and the quirk in it is that the lizards are wearing baroque costumes with coats and tails and shirt fronts.”
When Cinderella arrives at the ball she brings the magic with her.

“The ballroom is very normal and then she appears and it opens up and it’s the night sky. That was always something I thought would be wonderful,” says John.

“And then of course the clock needed to be this terrifying moment when the whole thing falls apart. You can absolutely hear the clock in the music. That’s the wonderful thing about Prokofiev and also Tchaikovsky – you can always tell where you’re going.

“When you start working on something like Cinderella, you’ve got to really listen to the music. Prokofiev gives you lots of leads before the clock starts that great whirring of the mechanism in the same way that Tchaikovsky gives you lots of leads before Aurora gets her finger pricked in the garden in Sleeping Beauty.”

John has designed numerous works including Swan Lake and Sir Peter Wright’s Giselle for Royal Ballet, War and Peace for Opéra Bastille, Hansel and Gretel and Queen of Spades for Welsh National Opera and a host of productions for New York’s Metropolitan Opera including The Flying Dutchman and Tosca.

“I only really do a show once and I only do ballet and opera because the music is so critical for me. I’m an avid reader and yet I get nothing when I read a script. If it’s an opera or ballet then everything is informed by the music.

“I have this belief that every production from Elektra to Don Giovanni to Tosca, they all have these critical moments, some of them the audience are hugely aware of, some of them are hopefully a huge surprise, but they all have this path through.”

Creating the right setting for the tale also ensures the audience enters the world onstage and becomes captivated by the story.

“All those huge Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky ballets have great stories and as long as you keep the story central it will work. And you hopefully don’t let the audience expectation down.

“So with Cinderella at midnight you’ve got to really show the audience that all this wonderful dream ballroom scene and meeting the prince have suddenly gone at the stroke of the clock. Cinderella is back to square one.”

The production also has plenty of comedy not least in the Stepsisters who are hideously mean but also so outrageous they create their own humour.

“We wanted the Ugly Sisters to be cruel of course and not just slapstick and funny,” says John. “David was brilliant on that with this sort of creepy quirky choreography for them.”
And the production needed to finish not just with a fairy tale happy ending but also with a grand finale which reflected Prokofiev’s great score.

“I think the end of Cinderella is one of the most beautiful pieces of music Prokofiev ever wrote. And so we have the Fairy Godmother and the sun coming up and the stars. There’s a magic to it as they walk into sunset or sunrise.”

Birmingham Royal Ballet Cinderella is at Lowry, Salford from 6-8 March 2025. Following on from the UK tour, the production will then play at Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan in Japan (27 – 29 June).

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The Nigerian megalopolis of Lagos is massive, youthful and exciting. Due to become the world’s biggest city by the turn of the century, it is one of the beating hearts of Africa. And this autumn the spirit of Lagos comes to UK stages in a dance show by Nigeria-based The QDance Company.

Created by Lagos-born dancer and choreographer Qudus Onikeku, Re:INCARNATION is inspired by the city, its people, its past and its present.

Following its UK premiere at London’s Southbank Centre, the production comes to The Lowry, Salford on 8 & 9 October. Featuring ten dancers and two musicians, it promises to be a rich exploration of one of the world’s most fascinating cultures.

“Lagos is very much captured in the show,” says Qudus, whose work has been showcased across the globe. “The energy of Lagos, the vibrancy, the youthfulness, the craziness, the madness, the beauty, the ugliness – are what I was really inspired by.

“This is a show that was created in Lagos, and it is showcasing the young energy encapsulated in the city with a lot of joy and a lot of colour.”

Re:INCARNATION combines a live soundtrack featuring West African music genre Afrobeats with dynamic dancing – contemporary, salsa, hip hop and street styles wacking and krump. Vivid masks and costumes and colour-soaked lighting complete the picture. For Qudus, all the elements are fundamental to creating a successful spectacle.

“I try as much as I can to involve the artists, whether it’s the costumier, the lighting designer, the sound artist, the dancers or the scenographer, in a collective creative process where we also highlight the authenticity and originality of each individual,” he says.

In Re:INCARNATION Qudus is exploring how young people fuse life today with influences from the past.

He is connecting that spirit of youth with the ancient philosophy of the Yoruba people, who have lived in Nigeria for centuries.

“The notion of dying and rebirth, and dying and rebirth again, in a continuous circle of reincarnation, is more or less what I wanted to capture in the show. The young dancers, despite their seeming disconnection with ancient philosophies, are in fact reproducing the codes and forms of the past without being conscious of it.

“The Yoruba don’t believe in life after death, they believe in different cycles of life, different types of incarnations. An experience doesn’t need to be in one lifetime, it could be in cycles of lifetimes. We try to remember that when we do a performance.”

Qudus trained in France but returned to Lagos in 2014, establishing the social enterprise The QDance Center and building a reputation for new and exciting work. Re:INCARNATION was premiered in France in 2021 and has toured extensively since then.

“One amazing thing about this show is that whether we are in Europe or America or Africa, people connect to it in a very interesting way,” he says. “Maybe that’s because it was created after Covid and Black Lives Matter and there was a certain kind of openness and an awareness of alternative philosophies or ideologies.

“Also Instagram and TikTok have done a good job in popularising dance and music forms coming from West Africa so it feels like we are adding into a tradition that is already ahead of us.”

Qudus is looking forward to the show’s tour to nine UK cities which is presented by Dance Consortium, a group of 19 large-scale venues with a shared passion for bringing the best global contemporary dance to Britain and Ireland.

“We are very excited about Re:INCARNATION coming to the UK,” he says. “It is a country that has a long history with Nigeria and Nigerian culture. So this work becomes an addition to that palette, or archive, of Nigerian artists and artforms which have been able to make a significant presence in the UK.

“I’m talking about the likes of Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Fela Kuti, Ben Okri, Chris Ofili. These are people that I consider to be like kin. To be in the spaces where they have been seen and heard is really an honour for me.”

Qudus first toured the UK as a solo performer in 2012 returning in 2015, and the country holds a special place for another reason – shopping!

“The UK always feels like home. I never knew how many similarities there were between Lagos and London before I went to London. I love the shopping, I love going to the pound stores – I always find something interesting there!

“Also I’ve always read my books in English, so every time I’ve had the opportunity to go to the UK, I go to book stores a lot. I love the Caribbean music – I have been there for the Notting Hill Carnival.”

And he is eager to share Re:INCARNATION with British audiences.

“It’s a show that is quite multi-faceted but one thing that I know people have always got out of it is this vibrancy, this young energy that we are bringing. It’s a shared moment of beauty and vivacity and I hope that we can add joy to our world.”

The QDance Company’s Re:INCARNATION is at The Lowry, Salford on Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 October 2024.

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Ground-breaking New York dance company, Ailey 2 embarks on its largest European tour in more than a decade this autumn, visiting 12 venues across the UK. Presenting a programme of hugely popular audience favourites alongside ambitious contemporary pieces, the company comes to The Lowry, Salford on 13 and 14 October.

About to celebrate its 50th anniversary, Ailey 2 is the second company of one of the most iconic dance companies in the world – Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – and it offers the exceptional dancers from The Ailey School their first professional roles.

This tour, says Ailey 2 Artistic Director Francesca Harper, is a rare chance for UK audiences to see this next generation of performers.

“What’s so exciting about Ailey 2 is that we are catching the enthusiasm and raw talent of the dancers at the beginning of their careers” she says.

“There’s such a rich history to the company of fostering and nourishing young artists. They are so talented and Ailey 2 gives them the opportunity for that talent to flourish.”

The programme for 12 dancers features four works – excerpts from Francesca’s Freedom Series and William Forsythe’s Enemy in the Figure along with Robert Battle’s The Hunt and Alvin Ailey’s Revelations which is a signature work of all the Ailey companies.

“Revelations is Mr Ailey’s most famous work and it’s a masterpiece,” says Francesca. “It reflects the cultural heritage of the African American community and Mr Ailey’s blood memories. It embodies this reverent grace and spiritual elation.”

Ailey 2 has also adapted The Hunt which was originally created for six male dancers by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director, Robert Battle.

“I asked Robert if we could have women perform in it as well so we are the first company within the Ailey organisation to have The Hunt performed by an all-female cast,” says Francesca. “It’s a very athletic work and is set to really powerful music by French percussion band Les Tambours du Bronx. Robert was inspired by modern sports and the rituals of gladiators so it has this very ominous and threatening energy. For the women to be as ferocious and athletic as the men is really exciting and an important statement.”

Francesca also brings her own stamp to the programme in the shape of William Forsythe’s Enemy in the Figure. From 1991 to 1999, she was a dancer in Forsythe’s hugely influential Ballett Frankfurt, rising to principal for the last five years.

“I thought it was so important to bring Forsythe’s work into the company because he was one of my mentors when I left New York and it helps the dancers understand who I am as an artist,” she says.

“Enemy in the Figure was inspired by Thom Willems’ percussive and electronic score. William had this sense of abstract storytelling where he would take his personal stories and deconstruct them. It’s a powerful work and will leave the audience on the edge of their seats.”

Francesca’s own work, Freedom Series, was inspired by her taking up the post of Ailey 2 artistic director and her emotional responses to returning to the Alvin Ailey family – she trained at The Ailey School where her mother Denise Jefferson was director.

“This is my home, it has always had that familial feeling,” says Francesca who has also choreographed for Broadway shows and was the ballet consultant for the film Black Swan. “It grounded me to see all of these people of colour and diverse representation living their dreams, following their passions and feeling empowered. And to see them transform and develop and flourish. Over the years I feel so fortunate to have witnessed that and for it to have been an integral part of my development. When I’m back here I feel the power that is in that kind of cyclical journey.

“Freedom Series carries so much weight for me. I have so many memories that live in the building and this organisation. I created a series of vignettes that imagine this hybridity where these memories strive to influence my vision of the future. It examines identity and community and being an African American woman as well as the diversity that Alvin embraced.”

Francesca is looking forward to sharing the programme with audiences in the tour presented by Dance Consortium, a group of large-scale theatres which aims to bring the best international dance to venues across the UK and Ireland.

The tour also features an extensive community outreach project for young dancers with workshops, masterclasses and open rehearsals. This forms part of the Ailey Project UK which was launched in 2021 with Dance Consortium member venues.

“We’ve established this wonderful relationship through the Ailey Project UK,” Francesca explains. “It really falls in alignment with spreading the message of an inclusive voice so it’s exciting to bring those two worlds together with this tour.

“Our outreach programme is so important to us. It’s sharing and spreading our mission to these young aspiring artists. As a young African American girl, I just didn’t see people like myself doing the things and performing the way that I dreamt of so for us to reach young people who may have dreams of dancing or becoming being involved in the arts in some other capacity, it’s so important. It can change lives.

“One of the most exciting things is that this tour is launching our 50th anniversary season as 2024 marks 50 years since Ailey 2 was founded. Audiences to this tour can expect excellence and heart, they can expect innovation, they can expect cutting edge work and they can expect these young artists at the height of their expression.”

Ailey 2 is at The Lowry, Salford on Friday 13 & Saturday 14 October at 7.30pm.

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Acclaimed South African choreographer and dancer, Dada Masilo brings together European and African influences in her latest show which comes to The Lowry, Salford in March.

The Sacrifice blends contemporary dance with the unique rhythms and moves of Tswana, a traditional African dance inspired by one of the continent’s most iconic small animals – the meerkat!

Soweto-born Dada was 12 when she started contemporary dance and ballet classes. She went on to study in Brussels, one of just 30 dancers accepted to study at the acclaimed P.A.R.T.S school. However, on her return to South Africa she struggled to find productions which brought together the different international elements of dance and music which she enjoyed so much.

“To begin with I didn’t want to be a choreographer” she says. “But we had to create work as part of our training. Then when I came back to South Africa there were no choreographers making work that I wanted to perform.

“I wanted to do the narrative, the dance drama…and nobody was creating that kind of work. So, I thought ‘well if no-one is doing it, then it has got to be yourself!’

She has since created a series of hugely successful works which take Western classics and fuse them with elements of storytelling, movement and music from her own African heritage. Her re-interpretations of Carmen, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake and Giselle have been critically acclaimed worldwide.

Dada both creates the work and performs in all of her productions. “For me it’s easier to be both choreographer and dancer because I’m not sitting out watching what I want people to do, I’m doing it too. I want to feel what everyone else is feeling. Then I know that when I’m tired then everybody is tired. I need to be there, it is what I love to do.”

For The Sacrifice, blending traditions meant a lot of work for Dada and her dancers. The Tswana dance, traditionally performed at festivals, originated among the people of Botswana and is also popular in South Africa and Namibia. Although Dada and her cast knew of the dance, it took a lot of work for them to master its intricate movements.

“Tswana is a dance from my heritage which is inspired by the meerkat,” says Dada. “The meerkat is a very small, very fast animal and I was drawn to that because I love to move very fast. In the past, I’ve fused contemporary dance with flamenco, with ballet and many other things but not with a specific dance from my own culture so this is an opportunity to do that.

“I had to learn Tswana from scratch – I spent three months with a teacher, just by myself, and then we brought in the company for about a month. It was incredibly difficult but I always love learning something new.”

Dada also sought the advice of the elders of her community to ensure the work remained respectful of her people’s traditions.

“There is a section where we call out all our surnames, basically calling the ancestors and saying the ancestors have come, and I had to ask the elders whether that was all right to do. I needed to get their permission.”

The Sacrifice is inspired by Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring but Dada and her team have developed a new soundscape which is firmly rooted in African music.

“There are so many versions of The Rite of Spring set to Stravinsky’s music that I wanted to create a new score. I have four musicians, a percussionist, a violinist, a keyboard player and a singer, and they listened to Stravinsky’s music. Then I said ‘OK, what can we do with those references?’ and they created the score while I created the movement vocabulary. We worked closely together as the live music is such an important part of the show.”

The UK tour, which comes to The Lowry Theatre on 21 & 22 March, is presented by Dance Consortium, a group of 18 large-scale theatres with a mission to bring the best international dance to stages across the UK and Ireland.

“I’m forever grateful that we can take our work to different people in different countries,” says Dada. “It’s great to talk to different audiences and find out how they feel and what they think – because a lot of the time they will feel something different.

“It’s great to return to the UK. With this tour, we are going to quite a lot of new places so I’m really excited about being back in Canterbury.”

Dance Consortium presents Dada Masilo’s The Sacrifice at The Lowry, Salford on 21 & 22 March.

The post Dada Masilo on her new work inspired by the meerkat appeared first on Quays Life.

When Sean Foley and Hamish McColl created The Play What I Wrote they wanted the story to be inspired by the comedy duo Morecambe and Wise rather than a tribute act – and so they created a new comedy duo.

As the two characters, Dennis and Thom, attempt to revive their failing act with a serious play, the story has references to Eric and Ernie – and it is this interplay between the expected and the unexpected which has contributed to the show being such a success.

Premiered in 2001, The Play What I Wrote was staged in the West End and on Broadway, toured the UK and received a host of awards. Twenty years on it has been revived by Birmingham Rep and is directed by Sean, now the theatre’s artistic director.

“The show is a tease,” says Sean. “It’s a really lovely dance between the idea of you’re watching a Morecambe and Wise tribute show but actually you’re not. So whenever we tease people with ‘here’s a bit of them’ they come to understand what the show is – which is a sophisticated but daft homage.”

Taking the roles of the two comedians are Dennis Herdman and Thom Tuck with Mitesh Soni playing Arthur, their comedy sidekick and numerous other roles. Thom says the cast can quickly tell if they have Morecambe and Wise fans in the audience.

“I don’t actually think it’s important at all for people to know Morecambe and Wise,” Thom says. “It’s just an extra sprinkling for the people who enjoy it. But at the first reference to them you can tell what percentage of the audience are Morecambe and Wise fans because you can hear the murmur ‘they’re doing it’.

“And in a later scene we do ‘What do you think of the show so far? Rubbish’. Some days that will get a round of applause and some days it will get a big laugh but it doesn’t really matter between the two.”

The Play What I Wrote has an additional nod to Eric and Ernie by having a mystery guest in each performance in the tradition of their television shows. This means the cast are constantly needing to re-rehearse with new actors who during the Birmingham run included Tom Hiddleston, Kara Tointon, Denise Welch and Sue Holderness.

“There are big changes depending on the guest star and the audience will react differently as well,” says Dennis. “They all bring something unique and change our dynamic instantly and we’re all either fawning around them or trying to pull the rug from under them.

“It’s fun – it’s lovely to have them on stage and be able to take the mickey and play with them. They have all been up for it and most have been terrified as well! It’s nice that they have a certain status and yet they are also clearly flesh and blood and a nervous human being.”

The show has been a huge crowd-pleaser so far and Sean says much of that is down to the energy of Dennis, Thom and Mitesh.

“What is dazzling, and these guys do it completely brilliantly, is making all of the show look like it is a high wire act and things can go wrong at any time. That is really brilliant comic acting. Someone said to Eric Morecambe ‘I love all your improv lines and your ad-libs’ and he responded ‘It takes a lot of rehearsal to get them right’ and that’s the same with The Play What I Wrote.

“And with this show you also need the chemistry between the cast. We were very lucky that from final auditions, when we saw Dennis and Thom together, they were immediately a double act. Then we added Mitesh in and it just worked – they really make people laugh.”

Thom believes Eric and Ernie’s humour can cross generations because it fits into a comic tradition. “The ingrained thing about British people is that we like cheekiness and there is a sort of anti-establishmentism in Morecambe and Wise’s work,” he says.

“Whether it’s a look direct to camera which says ‘we know this is stupid’ or the play with the guest star, it’s ‘let’s muck about’. British audiences from variety onwards have had that sort of fun. It’s always high on the priority list.”

The Play What I Wrote is just the tonic audiences need right now, says Mitesh.

“There’s an element of what we are going through at the moment in finding comfort in what we know. The Morecambe and Wise element is an added bonus to being able to go back to live theatre and have a good time and laugh for two hours.

“People need that. We’ve been stuck away, in fact are still going through it and not knowing what is going to happen, but we’d say to people ‘just let go for two hours and laugh’ because laughter is contagious. When you hear one person with an amazing laugh, it just spreads across the entire auditorium.”

The Play What I Wrote tours to The Lowry from Mon 31 January to Sat 5 February 2022.

Read our review.

The post The Play What I Wrote – still surprising after 21 years appeared first on Quays Life.

The former Royal Ballet principal, who was born and grew up in Cuba, created Acosta Danza in 2015 to promote young talent and showcase performers from his home country. Since then the company has become hugely popular in Cuba, the UK and beyond.

“I had this great idea to create a company which didn’t look like any other company out there. The journey was always going to be hard and it needed a whole team of people who really believed in the idea,” says Carlos. “But I have managed to do it and I learnt a lot from it. I learnt that everything is possible.

“We called our first tour Debut because we were still in our early stages. But now we have a company which is more mature and with more repertory which means we can create a programme like Evolution. We have been evolving from that very first tour and I want to share that. With this programme, I know that we can do that.

“If you have the right energy and you convey your idea to people who believe in it, you can do wonders. That is what tells me to keep dreaming big.”

Carlos has always dreamed big. As a young boy growing up in hardship in the Cuban capital of Havana, he dreamed of being a football player but his father sent him to ballet school to keep him off the streets and to instil some discipline.

Initially reluctant to dance, Carlos’ talent impressed teachers and he went on to win a host of awards including the prestigious Prix de Lausanne. After performing with renowned companies around the globe, he joined the Royal Ballet in in 1998 becoming Principal Guest Artist in 2003. It was on retiring in 2016 that he created Acosta Danza, returning to Cuba to find his performers.

“When I audition dancers, I am looking for strong personalities, great commitment and great technique, whether contemporary or classical,” he says. “The dancers come from various different backgrounds and companies so I was looking to create a foundation on which to build.

“At the beginning I didn’t know how it would turn out because we started from zero – but everything has turned out just fine!”

It is a journey which continues. In 2017 Carlos opened the Carlos Acosta Dance Academy in Havana to train young dancers.

“We have 51 kids in the academy at the moment. We have a special programme for talented kids from disadvantaged backgrounds and we have children from other countries including the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Spain and Colombia,” says Carlos

“We are training them from an early age and giving them the signature of Acosta Danza so we now have a source that will feed the company in the future.

“This will keep up our vision and the direction of the company – a company which tackles the Cuban essence. Every choreographer that I have worked with, I ask them to find inspiration from the island and from its music and people so we can create work which is different from every other contemporary dance company.”

Much of that Cuban essence is evident in Evolution which features Christopher Bruce’s Rooster, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Faun, Pontus Lidberg’s Paysage, Soudain la nuit and Maria Rovira’s Impronta.

Set to hits by the Rolling Stones including Little Red Rooster, Paint it Black, Ruby Tuesday and Sympathy for the Devil, Rooster pokes gentle fun at cocksure males as they hit the town on the hunt for women. Created in 1991, it has been staged worldwide – and it’s a piece close to Carlos’ heart as he first performed it in the 1990s when he was a dancer with Houston Ballet. In the upcoming tour, Carlos returns to the stage as part of the cast.

“Rooster is a big crowd-pleaser and it’s great for me to be with the dancers, building our dream of this company together,” he says. “Sometimes a director is far removed from the dancers, just saying ‘go here, go there, do this, do that’ but it is something special when you put the director on the stage with the dancers. We are all breathing the same artistry and we look at each other’s eyes and pick up each other’s energy. They appreciate that I’m one of them, not just someone who tells them what to do!

“For me, every minute that I’m on stage counts as it’s not the usual thing for me any more. Before I was doing 100 shows a year and I would know that when one show was over there would be another one the next week but now that’s not the case. When I’m on stage I feel alive and now I know it could be the last time so I make sure I really enjoy it as much as I can.”

Maria Rovira, who created Impronta, has worked with Carlos and Acosta Danza on a number of projects and choreographed the recent film ‘Yuli’ based on Carlos’ life and autobiography ‘No Way Home’.

“Maria has a strong relationship with Cuba, she used to choreograph for the National Ballet of Cuba,” Carlos explains. “When I put the company together, I tried to look for choreographers who already had a connection to Cuba so I commissioned her to create her first work for Acosta Danza.

“Then there was an opportunity for a dance festival in Barcelona when she worked with the company and created Impronta. When there was the opportunity of the movie, she was the right person for that. So we have had this connection for a long time.

“Impronta was created for one of the dancers, Zeleidy Crespo, who is incredible. It’s Afro-Caribbean-based and very focussed on the individual performer. It’s a great addition to the show.”

Lidberg’s Paysage, Soudain, la nuit takes music by Cuban composer Leo Brouwer as the start point but that music is then re-worked by Swedish composer Stefan Levin. The set features an art installation by Cuban artist Elizabet Cerviño. For Carlos, this is a melding of different cultures to create something new and exciting.

“This piece has great atmosphere. You can see the subtlety of Cuban culture but from a European perspective which is very lovely,” he explains.

Cherkaoui’s Faun is inspired by the classic ballet L’Après-midi d’un faune and is set to Debussy’s original score with additional music by award-winning composer and producer Nitin Sawhney.

Again Carlos was keen to put the Acosta Danza stamp onto the piece. “Faun is a classic which is familiar to UK audiences but this time it is being danced by our dancers who have extraordinary bodies. To me, the piece becomes something else entirely with those dancers.”

This March and April Evolution travels to Southampton, Cardiff, Inverness, Bradford, Brighton, Canterbury, Salford, Plymouth, Newcastle and Nottingham after its premiere last autumn. The tour is presented by Dance Consortium, a group of 20 large-scale UK venues who work together to promote international dance. For Carlos, it is the ideal partnership.

“Working with Dance Consortium is an incredible opportunity for the company to go all over the country with this programme. Hopefully this is the beginning of a strong partnership so we can share our dance with regions across the UK. This tour takes us to a lot of venues we’ve not been before and we are really looking forward to it

“It’s great to bring top quality international dance to people’s doorstep so they don’t have to travel to Paris or other cities to see what is going on. Dance Consortium is a fantastic organisation for doing this – the more people understand other country’s cultures the more they understand the people of those countries. The arts help us to be more compassionate and tolerant of other peoples.”

In January Carlos became director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, a role he will combine with continuing to run Acosta Danza. Awarded the CBE in 2014, Carlos has for many years been based in both the UK and Cuba.

“Britain is like home to me,” he says. “The good thing about the British people is that they embrace difference. If you are different they see that as a good thing. They know talent when they see it and they really appreciate it, no matter where it comes from.

“I love the fact that a Cuban company can come here and the British welcome them like they are their own. It’s incredible when the audience stand up at the end of a performance and they are shouting and cheering. There has been so much love for us and we feed on that so we are looking forward to coming back and giving even more”.

Acosta Danza Evolution Spring 2020 tour is at The Lowry, Salford Quays on 24 and 25 March 2020. Visit danceconsortium.com for full tour details.

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The original ballet, which premiered in Paris in 1841, tells the story of innocent peasant girl Giselle who falls in love with the disguised nobleman, Albrecht. When she discovers the truth about her lover and that he will never be hers, Giselle is consumed with grief and dies of a broken heart. When a remorseful Albrecht visits Giselle’s grave, he evokes the wrath of the Wilis (the spirits of girls who have been betrayed in love) and they exact a heavy penance.

Masilo, whose reinterpretations of other classics including Romeo and Juliet, Carmen and Swan Lake built her an international reputation, felt driven to create a new Giselle.

“It’s the challenge of looking at the ballet from a different perspective and dealing with issues that are relevant now. In these stories we are dealing with power struggles, war, greed, domestic violence, rape. These are things I see every day. I’m revisiting the classical ballets to tackle these issues and to start a dialogue with people. To ask ‘what are we doing about this?’

“I begin with study of the original work. It’s important to know the rules before breaking them. In the traditional ballet there is a clear narrative but the characters are rather two-dimensional. The emphasis is on the steps rather than on the unique psychologies of the protagonists – Albrecht and Hilarion seem just there to support the female lead, Giselle’s mad scene relies on messy hair…. I wanted to go much deeper and, most importantly, to create Wilis that are really vicious.

“I have always been intrigued by the Wilis. That’s where I started. I wanted to see how far I could push the boundaries in terms of having Wilis that are strong, powerful and dangerous.

“In the ballet they all female, dressed in white and very graceful. I wanted to find their violence because Act Two is about revenge. I dressed my Wilis in wine-red, as though they are drenched in blood. This reflects revenge, killing and death.”
In the original Giselle the Wilis are the spirits of wronged women. In Masilo’s version they are both female and male.

“I love working with androgyny, it creates an interesting dynamic,” she says. “It’s also about breaking down the gender stereotypes – the notion that men are supposed to do this and women are supposed to do that. In dance, that is the norm.

“The Wilis are spirits so could be either male or female. I wanted to alter the concept that only women are victims. Men also get heart-broken.

“It seems to me that in ballet the men are basically there to lift and support the women. I think it’s time we find gender equality in dance.”

Masilo’s Giselle has been seen to reflect the #metoo movement in which women worldwide have spoken out about sexual discrimination and the abuse of male power.

Masilo says this is a coincidence as her Giselle premiered prior to the movement. “I did aim to make a work which empowers women who are expected to be understanding, soft, tolerant and forgiving.

“It’s also very good for us to acknowledge that we are strong and powerful – and to use that power to say ‘I’m not going to take that, enough is enough’. Women need to stand up for themselves more. We are living in a world where men tend to rule and we shy away from our own power. As a woman, and having been brought up by very strong women, I want to share this.”

In addition to shifting the story’s time and characters, Masilo also changes location.
“I’ve set it in rural South Africa so we are dealing with different cultures and traditions. It’s about how people interact, how relationships are formed and the dynamics of those relationships in rural South Africa which is completely different from the world of classical ballet,” she says.

“I did not consciously set out to ‘Africanize’ Giselle. It is just there. I am South African – this is where my roots are. My origins and environment infuse my work. I have also studied classical ballet. It’s about allowing the two to merge without losing the essence of the work.”

For the music, Dada commissioned fellow South African Philip Miller to compose a new score, revisiting some of the original themes by Adolphe Adam, together with newly created music.

“I love what he did,” she says. “You hear themes from the original throughout. Philip incorporates this with African percussion, rhythm and voice.

“Generally people who have not been exposed to ballet, its codes and mimetic gestures, tend to avoid it. This is also true in South Africa. My aim is to make it accessible. It is called Giselle but tells a story to which everyone can relate without alienating those who are familiar with the ballet.”

Dada Masilo trained at The Dance Factory in Johannesburg from the age of 11 and at the age of 19 was selected from nearly 800 other dancers to gain one of just 30 places at the Performing Arts Research and Training Studio in Brussels. This is where she began to choreograph.

“I didn’t want to be a choreographer – I thought it would be too much work!” she laughs. “I always say ‘first I’m a dancer’. I choreograph works that I want to dance. It’s what I do and love. Sharing through dance, we learn new things every day.

“It is challenging being both choreographer and dancer because I can’t always see everything. Once I have established my intention, I bring in someone I trust to be that outside eye and to give me notes on what I’m doing. I don’t think I could just choreograph – I need to be in it to feel it.”

Masilo premiered Giselle in Oslo more than two years ago and it has toured extensively. It will celebrate its 100th performance when it opens at London’s Sadler’s Wells on October 4. This UK premiere will be followed by performances in Nottingham, Bradford, Birmingham, Salford, Milton Keynes, Brighton and Canterbury.

The tour is presented by Dance Consortium, a group of 20 venues who work together to promote international contemporary dance across the United Kingdom.

“Working with Dance Consortium has been great,” says Dada. “So far, we have only performed at Sadler’s Wells in London, with Swan Lake in June 2015, so for the company, the tour is wonderful exposure across the UK. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity.”

And she hopes the audience will also enjoy the opportunity to see her work.
“I never take audiences for granted. We just do our best work and hope the audience responds. I hope they can feel whatever they feel, whether it is joy, pain, love or anger. I want people to ask questions and to feel emotion – any emotion. And then sit down and talk about Giselle. I do not see art as just entertainment. It is there to teach, inspire and provoke.”

Dance Consortium presents Dada Masilo – Giselle is touring the UK from 4 October – 2 November 2019.

Read our review of Dada Masilo – Giselle at The Lowry.

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