I have been doing a review of the year in dance for more than a decade, since I started dedicating myself to watching dance.
In a typical year I will see around 25-35 'dance' shows: a mix of ballet, contemporary dance, physical theatre, cirque, street dance, and sometimes Indian classical dance, flamenco and tango.
In 2020 watching dance stalled suddenly in March and never recovered; although I did see one open air promenade triple bill outside The Lowry in the sweet spot in October when it looked like they might be able to reopen.
But 2020 started so strongly and showed much promise, cruelly extinguished.
- Aisha and Abhaya | Rambert | Linbury Studio Theatre, ROH, London | 24 January *****
I was never going to be able resist booking a new work in London choreographed by Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar with music by Ori Lichtik - and in collaboration with the newly-on fire Rambert: and I wasn't disappointed. The film elements by Kibwe Tavares were striking and well-made but generally less essential (for me) than the movement delivered by six of Rambert's most striking dancers with the welcome addition of guest artist (and former Hofesh Shechter Company-member) Maëva Berthelot. All the reviews criticised a significant disconnect between the narrative film content and Eyal's choreography but the programme notes (in an interview with Tavares) indicate that this was a clear artistic choice and the show was so exciting and physically on the money that I don't really care about whether there was an 'issue' with the narrative.
- Child (Kind) | Peeping Tom | Barbican | 26 January *****
While down south for Aisha and Abhaya I was lucky (and sensible) enough to catch Peeping Tom's Child (Kind)at the Barbican. The third part of a trilogy (with Mother (Moeder) and Father (Vader)), Child was a strikingly odd and eccentric show about childhood imagination and trauma set in a creepy Americana-inflected forest at the edge of some cliffs with an appealingly bizarre cast of misfits and oddballs, a tree-baby and some aliens. Dark, funny and technically audacious, Peeping Tom are like no one else in the arena of dance theatre. I also decided that the Barbican was a wonderful venue that I would make the effort to visit again and as often as possible.
- No Sex | Black Box Dance Company | Riley Theatre, Leeds | 1 February ****
This was a stylish and sexy show by a Danish company that were new to me. In a normal year this would probably not make the top ten (and this year I can't even run to a top ten) but I enjoyed it.
- MÁM | Michael Keegan-Dolan / Teaċ Daṁsa | Sadler's Wells, London | 7 February *****
I love Michael Keegan-Dolan's work and MÁM was a simply tremendous piece about community and memory performed by an incredible company and dancers and musicians, with huge visual style and wonderful music: evocative, imaginative and spellbindingly distinctive.
![]()
- Swan Lake | Birmingham Royal Ballet | The Lowry [Lyric Theatre] | 4-7 March ****
I had tickets booked for several shows including Rambert 2 at Cast in Doncaster, Staatsballet Berlin - a return visit to see another new Sharon Eyal piece in a double bill with Alexander Ekman - in Berlin, Alexander Whitley Dance Company (booked twice, but cancelled twice), Iceland Dance Company at the Southbank Centre, a Nico Muhly triple bill at Sadler's Wells, and Hofesh Shechter's new Double Murder at HOME, plus plans to see many more productions and companies on the schedules or not yet announced. All gone, some doubtless never now to be seen.
It seems likely that it will be late 2021 before theatre schedules return to normal - and that is being optimistic. I pray that they do and the venues and companies and performers and creatives and choreographers and theatre-makers that bring me so much joy and pleasure and anticipation - that help define who I am - survive and return.
I also watched a lot of dance online, some of it new work scheduled in response to the crisis, some of it work from the archives (often recent) released to stream during the aching void and some of just because it was online and there to view.
You can catch my thoughts and some reviews here
Companies and venues are still in no position to plan (replan) their 2021 schedules and some are planning for online for the foreseeable future - Scottish Dance Theatre are a good example of this, having just announced a programme of activities that are either small-scale, very local - 'connecting with the community' is a voguish knee-jerk reaction at the moment - or entirely online.