"It’s like a game of tennis – I hit the ball and she returns it.". Margaret Willis catches up with choreographer Patrick de Bana to talk about his choroegraphic life and latest project - contributing to Svetlana Zakharova's show Amore - which tours to the UK in November.
Interviews
Interviews with dancers and others
We talk to Emma Maguire about the Gala that honours the life of her mum, Ann Maguire, and this year takes place at the Leeds Grand Theatre on 3 September. The proceeds go to support the Ann Maguire Arts Education Fund - inspiring young people through the arts...
Iceland Dance Company are about to present the UK premiere of Sacrifice at London's Royal Festival Hall - so an excellent time to catch up with Erna Ómarsdóttir, their choreographing director...
Passing it On: Wendy Whelan Stages her first ballet, Alexei Ratmansky's Pictures at an Exhibition, for Pacific Northwest Ballet.
We talk to two of the three artistic directors of Nora about what makes them tick and touring their latest bill - "Nora invites Aggiss, Burrows, Fargion and Tanguy".
English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer Competition is unique in British ballet in throwing the spotlight on more junior dancers or “tomorrow’s stars” as ENB put it. This year's competition is on the 25 May and ahead of the that we talk to 4 of the 6 finalists - Isabelle Brouwers, Rina Kanehara, Madison Keesler and Guilherme Menezes...
Tango coach and dancer Nelida Rodriguez de Aure has been helping Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui with his show, "m¡longa". About to tour the UK it sees a unique coming together of tango and contemporary dancers. Diane Parkes talks to Nelida about the background and what makes tango so very special...
Meticulous reconstructions of Petipa, Cunningham, Graham, Taylor works are performance staples these days. Much rarer is a reconstruction like "Le Temple de la Gloire" (The Temple of Glory) a 1745 political opera-ballet with music by Jean-Philippe Rameau and a libretto by the philosopher Voltaire....
Julie Cunningham on Twitter www.rambert.org.uk Julie Cunningham and Company make their debut at the Barbican Theatre on the 8-11 March 2017. Full Details A busy time for Julie Cunningham – this last year she has become Rambert’s first Leverhulme Choreography Fellow and this week unveils her own company in performances at the Barbican. But Cunningham has always been busy since...
Manuel Liñán will be very busy during this year’s Flamenco Festival London. He is directing the annual Gala Flamenca (23-25 February) and also his company will close the Festival...
Wayne Parsons interviewed about his choreographic practice and latest work - Vestige - to be premiered at London's Rich Mix on 25 Feb.
Founded eight years ago Hagit Yakira Dance are steadily becoming more widely known as they tour increasingly - which is what they are currently doing. We have a word with the boss about this particular tour and her approach to creating accessible and entertaining work...
Robert Barnett joined New York City Ballet in 1949. In those early years he worked closely with Balanchine and Robbins particularly before going on to direct Atlanta Ballet. Now 91 he is still actively involved in dance and passing on all he knows...
She found that she came back to perform with the company she left five years ago with a different approach. ‘I know more about why I love to perform...'
Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, the award winning choreographer, chats with Diane Parkes about working with Danza Contemporánea de Cuba. The 'high powered' and much admired company are about to tour the UK with one of her works and we wanted to know more...
Tanzania-based Circus of the Senses are presenting their internationally-toured Mother Africa at London's Peacock in February/March. We have a word with dancer and choreographer Noluyanda Mqulwana (Nolly)...
Malta’s national contemporary dance company, ŻfinMalta Dance Ensemble, are touring to the UK for the first time - we have a word with Artistic Director Mavin Khoo...
jasminvardimon.com Full details of Pinocchio tour The Jasmin Vardimon Company has built up a remarkable repertoire of physical theatre and contemporary dance, since the company was founded, almost 20 years’ ago. The principal author of all these works, whose name the company bears, was born in Israel but has been based in the UK, since 1995. Vardimon has been an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells...
One of the leading interpreters of Kenneth MacMillan’s dramatic ballets Viviana Durante's leaving of the Royal Ballet at the height of her powers was a sad loss to London, if the gain of those who saw her perform elsewhere all around the world. Well now she's back at the Royal Opera House, this time to coach MacMillan's Anastasia, which is where Jann Parry caught up with her...
Choreographer Didy Veldman has just formed her own company - Umanoove - and is off touring her latest work, called "The Happiness Project". Time for a brief 5 questions interview we thought...