London City Ballet has returned to York Theatre Royal with a brand-new showcase called Momentum. With great technical skill and plenty of emotional depth, the company shows no signs of the extraordinary thirty-year hiatus since it famously graced the stage in Sadler's Wells.

An unusual sight greeted the audience at the Brudenell: a screen set up in front of the stage. I think this was a first for me, a visible barrier that would prevent you from seeing the support band, Honesty. The screen was very much part of the show, almost the lead, as vivid in-your-face projections accompanied beats produced by the Leeds collective.

Six years after his celebrated first Piano Book, Lang Lang has assembled 32 pieces spanning Bach to video game soundtracks and Chopin to anime themes. It's an enterprising and charming programme that reflects his populist instincts and his experience as a presenter on Channel 4's The Piano – a role that has clearly sharpened his curatorial skills in reaching the widest possible audience.

Wheatus are set to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their self-titled debut album with a 2025 UK and Ireland tour. The New York rock band’s seminal 2000 LP featured the breakout hit Teenage Dirtbag, which reached Number Two in the UK Singles Chart and has since been certified quadruple platinum.

Together, these two symphonies reflect a lifetime shaped by conflict and change. Side by side, they form a portrait of a composer who could embrace both light and shadow, hope and uncertainty, with equal mastery. With excellent accompanying notes in the booklet, this is an all-round success – an exciting performance where textures are wonderfully realised and the orchestra's precision never falters.

Harrogate’s Mercer Art Gallery has teamed up with indie publisher Avery Hill Publishing to create an exhibition showcasing some of today’s most exciting comics creators.

Cue the velvet curtains and dim the lights: Celeste has returned with an album that sounds as if it swanned in from a lost reel of classic cinema. Woman of Faces is drenched in retro glamour—all smoky brass, midnight keys, and melodies that swirl like perfume in an old theatre foyer.

The Manchester Camerata under Takács-Nagy's baton responds with matching finesse and beautiful phrasing. The interaction between soloist and orchestra reveals an incredible chemistry built up over the earlier volumes, with playing that is precise and articulate, performed with wonderful clarity where the dynamics and shape add immeasurably to the performance.

The beauty of Fashionably Late is that it’s clear XO are doing this as much for their own joy as for their audience. Rather than playing it safe, they lean into bold choices, crafting songs that feel both nostalgic and refreshingly new.   The EP proves that these five women with the power to pop it absolutely nailed their arrival. 

It's a tremendous album and something genuinely different to listen to as you settle down for the evening, getting ready to drift off into sleep and dream.

A Flamenco performance is the most joyous of dance spectacles known to man. So said Ernest Hemingway who haunted the Villa Rosa, Madrid’s most famous house of Flamenco.

Opera North has collaborated with Phoenix Dance on four previous opera productions. Each of these has been a delight, but this performance of Handel's Susanna has been my favourite. There's something perfectly operatic about adding another art form into an already dazzling display of orchestral music, singing, acting, costume design, set design, sound, lighting...

Northern Ballet’s Merlin is an ambitious, tightly packed production that sweeps its audience through magic, myth, conflict and love. At its heart is a coming-of-age story, told with both cinematic scope and deeply human emotion. Kevin Poeung is excellent as Merlin, capturing the shifting emotions of adolescence with nuance.

Since Riverdance first emerged onto the world stage, its fusion of Irish and international dance and music has captured the hearts of millions worldwide. The Grammy Award-winning music and the infectious energy of its mesmerising choreography and breathtaking performances have left audiences in awe and established Riverdance as a global cultural sensation. To celebrate this incredible 30th-year milestone, Riverdance will embark on a special anniversary tour in 2025, bringing its magic to audiences around the world. The show will visit 30 UK venues—one for each year of its history—from August to December 2025. We caught up with principal dancers Anna-Mai Fitzpatrick and Fergus Fitzpatrick to learn more.

I have to confess that I love and adore contemporary dance. Not all of it of course, but as a grand sweeping statement then I find that it is my favourite art form. What a treat is was then to be invited to see the last date of VERVE - the international touring dance company of Northern School of Contemporary Dance (NSCD) - as they complete their latest tour at the Leeds Playhouse.

In October 2024 Northern Ballet announced the creation of a major new full-length ballet based on the extraordinary life of 19th century icon Anne Lister, or ‘Gentleman Jack’, the historical Yorkshire figure often referred to as ‘the first modern lesbian’ whose decoded diaries have captivated audiences around the world.

Taking on any classic novel for interpretation into a narrative ballet strikes me as a bold move. With well-loved texts comes an audience with strong opinions on characters and themes making them potentially hyper-critical of another person’s vision of the story.

Neither of us had any real experience of contemporary dance on arrival for Northern School of Contemporary Dance’s tour of Verve at Harrogate theatre. Little did we know what a treat we were in for! Sixteen dancers, three different shows with three different choreographers.

Concluding our three short interviews we hear from Dominquie Larose as Jane Eyre on how she is preparing for the performances of Jane Eyre and what she most enjoys about performing in Northern Ballet’s home city of Leeds.

Dicken's frequently gritty tales of Victorian England are replaced with a straightforward tale of morality in the 'oh so well-known' A Christmas Carol. The scene is set with the distant sounds of carriages, horses hooves clip-clopping, and projected images of snow falling, all accompanied by the joyous babble of dozens of schoolchildren.

For the past twenty years a delegation of monks from one of the four major monasteries of the Gelugpa (or Yellow Hat) tradition, Tashi Lhunpo, in the south of India travels to the UK. The first Dalai Lama founded the monastery in 1447, and the group is renowned for its scholarship in Mahayana Buddhist philosophy and the tantric tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

Chris Marney, originally from Essex, now lives in London with broad experience of working internationally as a dancer and as Artistic Director. As a dancer Chris worked internationally in leading principal roles for many companies including Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Balletboyz, Gothenburg Ballet Sweden, Ballet Biarritz France and Bern Ballet Switzerland.

Karen Hauer is Strictly Come Dancing's longest-standing professional, having spent 12 series on the iconic show. She has partnered with celebrities including Westlife's Nicky Byrne, The ‘Hairy Biker’ Dave Myers, Mark Wright, Jeremy Vine, Chris Ramsey, and Jamie Laing.

Northern Ballet will open its autumn 2024 season with Three Short Ballets a triple-bill featuring two world premières and a Northern première. The trio of works will be performed in Leeds at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre from the 6-14 September and in London in early 2025.

Nowadays, it can often feel like everywhere you turn is doom and gloom, so it is wonderful to be able to write about something as positive and life-affirming as DanceSyndrome’s community showcase ‘Express ‘24’ at Blackburn Empire Theatre.

Northern Ballet is prolific when it comes to creating new ballets, and apart from the seasonal Nutcracker, the classics feature relatively infrequently: Giselle in 2011 and a characteristically different adaptation of Swan Lake in 2016. Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet is an iconic ballet, much loved and performed around the world.

Northern Ballet’s new season, and their first curated by Artistic Director Federico Bonelli, begins with a triple-bill of breathtaking ballets by some of the world’s finest choreographers.

Northern Ballet, under the guidance of their new artistic director Federico Bonelli, has announced a thrilling new season of works, reinforcing their aim of presenting "stories that connect with people of all ages and backgrounds".

Following a sell-out performance in June 2022, York Theatre Royal are once again welcoming Kyiv City Ballet back to York with a special visit to the city this month - including a one-off fundraising gala performance.

Joining the Company in the role of Gatsby for performances in Leeds and London is Principal of The Royal Ballet, Ryoichi Hirano. Hirano joined The Royal Ballet as a Prix de Lausanne apprentice in 2001, developing through the ranks of the company to Principal in 2016. He has also performed as Guest Principal for Norwegian National Ballet and Scottish Ballet.

One of the most popular of full-length classical ballets, and technically the most demanding, Swan Lake, has been performed countless times by many world-famous companies and tonight’s performance by the Russian State Ballet of Siberia did not disappoint. It was breath taking.

Under the baton of Antony Hermus the Orchestra of Opera North has delivered an electrifying evening of Bernstein music at The Grand in Leeds. From the gloriously sad domestic drama of Trouble in Tahiti to the passion and relentless energy of the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, the orchestra is, frankly, superb.

Northern Ballet announced that David Nixon OBE, its longest serving Artistic Director, will step down from his role in December 2021 after 20 hugely successful years of artistic leadership. Canadian-born David Nixon took up the post of Artistic Director of Northern Ballet in 2001.

Northern Ballet plans to return to touring for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Leeds-based company, which has not been able to perform outside of its home city since November 2019, will hold a limited three venue tour to Salford, London and Leeds this June.