Dance at the London Coliseum

Posted on October 23, 2012

The London Coliseum has announced its dance performances for spring and summer 2013. The programme includes visits from overseas companies the Mikhailovsky Ballet and Boston Ballet, plus seasons by Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Ballet.

Birmingham Royal Ballet dance the London premiere of David Bintley’s Aladdin from March 20 to 24. Created for the National Ballet of Japan in 2008, the production has music by Carl Davis.

The Mikhailovsky Ballet will perform a London season from March 26 to April 7. The repertory will include productions of Swan Lake and Don Quixote, staged by Mikhail Messerer, plus company director Nacho Duato’s Multiplicity. Forms of Emptiness and Silence, set to music by J.S. Bach.

English National Ballet dance Ecstasy and Death from April 18 to 21. This Triple Bill opens with the company premiere of Jirí Kylián’s Petite Mort, followed by Roland Petit’s Le Jeune homme et la Mort and Harald Lander’s Etudes. From July 25 to 27, the company dance A Tribute to Rudolf Nureyev, marking 75 years since the dancer’s birth and 20 since his death. Nureyev was associated with the three works in this triple bill: he danced Mikhail Fokine’s Petrushka and Maurice Béjart’s Song of a Wayfarer, and created this production of Raymonda Act III.

Boston Ballet bring two programmes to London. From July 3 to 4 and 6 to 7, they dance a neo-classical programme of Nijinsky’s L’Après-midi d’un faune and George Balanchine’s Serenade and Symphony in Three Movements, plus Plan to B by Boston Ballet’s resident choreographer Jorma Elo. From July 5 to 6, the company dance a contemporary programme of William Forsythe’s The Second Detail, Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia and Jirí Kylián’s Bella Figura (pictured).

Russian Seasons of XXI Century, directed by Andris Liepa, returns to London with three programmes inspired by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Every performance includes the ballet Cleopatra-Ida Rubinstein, paired with Le Spectre de la Rose and The Firebird, with Scheherazade or with Chopiniana and the Polovstian Dances from Prince Igor.

Carlos Acosta returns to the London Coliseum from July 30 to August 4, with a new show celebrating his 40th birthday. The programme is yet to be announced, but will include classical pas de deux with some of his favourite partners.

For more information, see www.eno.org.

Picture: Altan Dugaraa, Sarah Wroth and Yury Yanowsky of Boston Ballet in Jirí Kylián’s Bella Figura. Photograph: Rosalie O’Connor

Zoe Anderson

Zoë was born in Edinburgh, and saw her first dance performances at the Festival there. She is the dance critic of The Independent, and has also written for The Independent on Sunday, The Scotsman and Dancing Times. In 2002, she received her doctorate from the University of York for a thesis on “Nationhood and epic romance: Ariosto, Sidney, Spenser”. She is the author of The Royal Ballet: 75 Years and The Ballet Lover’s Companion.