Dance, Ballet

Highland Fling

One the oldest romatic ballets given modern tartan twist by Matthew Bourne and the Scottish National

It's a coup for Scottish Ballet to be the first company to perform a full-length Matthew Bourne piece outside his New Adventures troupe. But no doubt there's pride for the choreographer too, in having his urban-fantasy Glasgow vision embraced by…

Scottish Ballet's Christopher Hampson on Matthew Bourne's Highland Fling

The production is Bourne's adaptation of La Sylphide

It’s always a good idea to turn up at a job interview well prepared. But when Christopher Hampson arrived at Scottish Ballet, to convince the company he should be its new artistic director, he took preparation to a whole new level. ‘I looked at Scottish…

Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo UK tour 2013

All-make company bridging gap between farce and classical ballet

While there’s no disputing how captivating Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo can be, sometimes it’s equally fascinating to watch how the audience reacts to them. A regular fixture on the dance touring circuit since their formation in 1974, the…

Spring culture preview 2013

Nick Evans: Solar Eyes Evans' forthcoming solo show features a new set of his striking amorphic white plaster sculptures. The most ambitious is a large architectural complex which mimics the geometry of an Aztec temple. Evans' fascination with motifs…

Balletboyz: The Talent 2013

Double-bill featuring video and dancers Russell Maliphant and Liam Scarlett

What happens on stage is but a brief moment in a dancer’s life. In the rehearsal studio there’s a whole host of fascinating activity we rarely get to see. Which is why, early on, Michael Nunn and William Trevitt decided to make video an integral part of…

Profile: Christopher Hampson, incoming artistic director of Scottish Ballet

• Manchester-born Hampson graduated from the Royal Ballet School in 1992 and joined English National Ballet, where he danced as a soloist until 1999 before leaving to concentrate full-time on choreography. • He premiered his first full-length work…

Claire Robertson, principal dancer with Scottish Ballet, discusses the company's autumn season

Principal dancer Claire Robertson has seen some been changes since she joined Scottish Ballet in 1994. The latest of which is the arrival of new artistic director, Christopher Hampson. But while all eyes are on what the company does next, the legacy…

Cinderella

Cartoonish vibes in choreographer Alexei Ratmansky's ultimately glorious Perrault adaptation

As with contemporary productions of Shakespeare, the measure of a fairytale ballet isn't so much the story but what you do with it. Here choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, who created the piece for the Mariinksy in 2002, has chosen to bring a cartoonish…

Scottish Ballet's Family Challenge Day

A fun event for the whole family to try out some basic ballet steps

‘When you’re a parent, quite often you’ll do things with your child that you wouldn’t do on your own,’ says Catherine Cassidy, associate director of education at Scottish Ballet. How very true. Or at least that’s what Scottish Ballet is banking on, when…

Martin Lawrance on Dance GB

The Scottish Ballet choreographer will share a bill with English and Welsh national dance companies

‘Am I allowed to swear?’ asks Martin Lawrance politely, before going on to describe how he felt when Scottish Ballet first knocked at his door. Suffice to say, he was a little nervous. A dancer with Richard Alston Dance Company for many years…

Scottish Ballet tackle A Streetcar Named Desire

Behind the scenes at new ballet based on Tennessee Williams play

Stanley Kowalski eases his muscles in around the thin body of the woman who will become his wife. Flirting with her, he pulls her handbag from her lap, wears it on one casually extended foot, a powerful, teasing predator. Behind her eyes, a light…

Interview: David Nixon - choreographer and costume designer

Northern Ballet production of Beauty and the Beast

What made you want to be a choreographer? I became interested in choreography while I was at the National Ballet School of Canada, and started choreographing while I was still a dancer, but became more serious when I took over my first company. I…

Ballet West: Swan Lake

Production combining professional and students tours Scotland

When you’ve left school and moved onto a new life, going back to where it all began could feel like a backward step. If the school in question is in a beautiful location – the Scottish Highlands – it starts to sound more appealing. Throw in a fantastic…

Four List readers share their New Year's resolutions

An insight into getting started in trapeze, cookery, ballet or capoeira

'The feeling of achievement is amazing' Name Denise Deutsch Age 30 Profession Fabric buyer, Mandors Skill Trapeze and Aerial Arts I fell into the idea of aerial arts as a hobby after unexpectedly getting a ticket to see Leona Lewis perform in…

Scottish Ballet - Sleeping Beauty

Dynamic and opulent restaging of Ashley Page's 2007 hit

Choreographed by Ashley Page in 2007, as part of a triumvirate of winter ballets he has made with designer Antony McDonald, Sleeping Beauty is opulence itself. Opening in a Victorian hothouse, the guests at Princess Aurora’s christening are lavishly…

Liv Lorent, of balletLORENT - interview

The Newcastle-based company are touring Scotland with sensual new work La Nuit Intime

What made you want to be a choreographer? I couldn’t be the dancer I wanted to be, but felt compelled to marry the dancers I did adore with the music I loved. I still feel that this is something I need to do, and enjoy collaborating with others towards…

Scottish Ballet: Kings 2 Ends and Pennies From Heaven

Artistic director Ashley Page discusses the upcoming ballet double-bill

What made you want to be a choreographer? I’ve always been interested in the creative process across all the arts, and as a dancer at the Royal Ballet I had the good fortune to be involved in the creation of new work with some of the finest…

Scottish Ballet at 2011 Edinburgh International Festival

Ashley Page and Jorma Elo on the EIF programme

Ashley Page maintains that, when putting together Scottish Ballet’s new double bill for the Edinburgh International Festival, pairing the legendary Scottish choreographer Kenneth MacMillan’s neo-classical 1965 piece Song of the Earth with a completely…

The Ballet Ruse

Sneaking a cheeky peek at the secret lives of ballerinas

2011 has been quite a year for peeking backstage at the ballet, with the BBC documentary series The Agony and the Ecstasy and Darren Aronofsky’s thriller Black Swan. The Ballet Ruse is an altogether more irreverent look at the painstaking discipline…

Rock the Ballet

Pop-rock ballet makes for pure entertainment from Rasta Thomas’s Bad Boys

Rasta Thomas’ Bad Boys of Dance have come to town and swapped tights and Tchaikovsky for snug black trousers and an unashamed pop-rock soundtrack. New York-based ballet dancers they may be, but there’s not a whiff of neurotic Natalie Portman about them…

Interview - Muirne Bloomer and Emma O’Kane of The Ballet Ruse

Ballerinas swap the barre for the bar

The origins of The Ballet Ruse, by seasoned Irish dancers Muirne Bloomer and Emma O’Kane, are simple. ‘In 2009 we were both single and decided to make a groundbreaking piece about dating,’ remembers Bloomer. But things took a turn in the studio. ‘We…

Rock the Ballet incorporates multiple dance styles

Ballet gets a rock and pop makeover at 2011 Edinburgh Festival

If the word ballet leads you to thoughts of starched white tutus and tight buns, then Rock the Ballet is here to disabuse you of that notion. For although there will indeed be tight buns on stage, they’re considerably lower down than your average prima…

Edinburgh International Festival 2011 IN festival membership scheme

EIF and The List deal for half-price tickets, events and freebies

Edinburgh International Festival - in association with The List magazine - are offering members of an innovative and exclusive membership scheme a whole host of half-price tickets, event passes and freebies for the 2011 Festival season. Membership to…

Tramway Family Day: Alice in Wonderland

The Glasgow arts venue celebrates Lewis Carrol's most famous creation

When young Alice sips from a bottle marked ‘drink me’ in Lewis Carroll’s well-loved tale, Alice in Wonderland, a remarkable change occurs. Which is one of the reasons the team at Tramway was inspired to base its latest Family Day around this most…

Choreographer Richard Alston takes part in our Q&A ahead of his appearance at Glasgow's Theatre Royal

Richard Alston Dance Company will be in Glasgow this May, performing Alston's 1990 work Rough Cut alongside the Hoagy Carmichael-inspired Shuffle it Right and the Prokofiev-inspired Out of the Strong. He answers some of our questions on his work.