1. Light of Passage
Royal Opera House, London; October
A good year for the Royal Ballet was crowned by Crystal Pite’s full-length work to Henryk Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs that covered life, death and just about everything in between. Bringing children and veteran dancers on to the stage alongside the company’s fleet elite, the piece was full of beauty, sorrow and belief in the communicative power of dance. Sublime.
2. La Consagración de la Primavera (Rite of Spring)
Sadler’s Wells, London; December
We’ve seen three interpretations of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring this year. A specially created all-African company danced Pina Bausch’s elemental version and Mats Ek invented a searing domestic drama for English National Ballet. Both were terrific but neither matched this sensational solo by Israel Galván, which seemed to lay the bones of the music bare, with exhilarating flair.
3. Dance
Sadler’s Wells, London; March
Spring brought a new festival from Van Cleef & Arpels, scattering gems of contemporary dance across London. None was more sparkling than Lyon Opera Ballet’s revival of Lucinda Childs’s Dance from 1979, a postmodern examination of movement set to the repetitions of Philip Glass that rises to a pitch of rapturous purity.
4. Minotaur
Ustinov Studio, Bath; August
In a double bill with Benjamin Britten’s cantata Phaedra, Kim Brandstrup told the story of Ariadne in a miniature of dreamlike intensity, full of different movement styles that gave three exceptional dancers – Tommy Franzen, Jonathan Goddard and Laurel Dalley Smith – the chance to shine.
5. The Dan Daw Show
Battersea Arts Centre, London; May
Dan Daw’s confrontational examination of bodies, power and submission has stayed with me more strongly than many prettier dance shows, as much for its tenderness and courage as for the sheer inventiveness of the movement.
