Ballet & Dance Podcast

Ballet United Founder and Dancer Tom Attard-Manché talks to The Wonderful World of Dance about the inspiration behind Ballet United and the Gala, being held in London on 19 July at Cadogan Hall. Tom also shares his own dance journey, developing glandular fever and having to take time off dancing, and his vision for Ballet United. Ballet United brings together some of the world’s brightest and...

Every dancer has a story, and Claudia Suárez ‘s (Apprentice Ballerina, with Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida ) story sees her fleeing her home in politically unstable Venezuela and landing on the stage in Miami. 19 year old Claudia started dancing at the age of 5, however her training was interrupted by having to move numerous times and eventually travelling with her mum to London, where she s...

One of the most important issues facing the dance industry is dancer health and wellbeing. It is critical that dancers, teachers and parents are educated and aware to ensure that dancers are positively nurtured; so that they love their body, embrace their differences, understand the challenges, learn how to improve positively, have support, knowledge and tools to rise to the heights of their dance...

Elmhurst Ballet School graduate Lydia Holt is our final guest in our 3 part podcast series on this prestigious ballet school. Prior to studying at Elmhurst , 19 yr old Lydia attended  Tring Park School for the Performing Arts , where she was selected to perform with the English National Ballet in Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall, as well as St Petersburg Ballet in Don Quixote in Paris. Lydia Hol...

Elmhurst Ballet School graduate Hamish Scott  and winner of  Bronze at this year’s  Genée International Ballet Competition, shares his experience of training at this prestigious ballet school. This is the second in our 3 part podcast series on the Elmhurst Ballet School, that trains dancers who enter companies such as Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet,...

Elmhurst Ballet School Artistic Director Robert Parker , is an award winning former principal dancer with the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Elmhurst is the oldest and one of the most successful ballet schools not just in the UK, but across the world. Elmhurst schools young ballet students to succeed in the professional dance world, providing high quality, holistic vocational dance training. Significant...

Alain Platel is the director of Les Ballet C de la B, which is in fact not a ballet company, and definitely not your typical dance company. Based in Belgium, Alain tells us how he started Les Ballet C de la B by accident and has over the last 30 years challenged the normal conventions of dance. Working with both professional and non-professional dancers, live musicians, and even animals, Alain cre...

Sophie Laplane, First Artist with the Scottish Ballet was born in France, studied at the prestigious Paris Opera Ballet School, and danced with Le Ballet de Lorraine before moving to Scotland. Sophie shares with us her journey from Paris to Glasgow, her favourite roles, and her move into choreography that is being nurtured by the Scottish Ballet. The support Sophie has received from the...

Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante is one half of the founders and artistic directors of  award winning London hip hop dance company Boy Blue Entertainment . Together with choreographer Kenrick ‘H20’ Sandy, composer Mikey J has blazed the hip hop trail and are at the forefront of the UK hip hop scene. With a string of awards, collaborations with incredible artists both here in the UK and abroad, acclaimed p...

Imagine going into a field, meeting a random group of people, putting on headphones, hearing music, following instructions and performing choreography. This is the unique creation of choreographer Charlotte Spencer called Is this a Waste Land? Her work and company Charlotte Spencer Projects  has been described as stretching the boundaries of choreography, challenging the normally accepted notion o...

Dance + Space Science = 8 Minutes by former Birmingham Royal Ballet dancer Alexander Whitley. After a wonderful career as a classical ballet dancer, Alex turned to contemporary dance before choreographing his own works and setting up his own dance company – Alexander Whitley Dance Company . Among his many accolades, Alex  holds the prestigious position as a New Wave Associate at Sa...

Sadler’s Wells is not your typical dance house, it is not a theatre, or a dance company, but it’s an institution that curates, commissions and showcases the most outstanding dance from the UK, Europe and across the world. Sadler’s Wells pushes the boundaries of dance, nurtures new choreographic talent, educates and engages audiences. As part of their mission to reach ou...

Acclaimed Tamsin Fitzgerald, Artistic Director and choreographer of the award winning and physically adventurous 2Faced Dance Company  is a trail blazer and a strong advocate of female choreographers. Not only has Tamsin created an exciting and successful dance company, she is actively tackling the  serious concerns about the lack of equality faced by female choreographers...

Illuminati – according to conspiracy theorists – is a secret society of wealthy people hell bent on world domination. The Illuminati are said to brainwash celebrities to spread their mind control to the masses using symbols like the pyramid, eye and skulls. Rosie Kay , Artistic Director & Choreographer of her award-winning contemporary dance company – Rosie Kay Dance Com...

Dance4Humanity is the brainchild of principal guest artist and social entrepreneur Aaron Smyth. Dance4Humanity a global collective of artists giving back to humanity one movement at a time that raises money for charity. Aaron Smyth is truly one of the next generation of dancers, who at 25 yrs old travels the world as a guest principal artist and, in addition to Dance4Humanity,...

Listen to Kevin Finnan, choreographer and artistic director of the UK’s leading dance theatre company, Motionhouse , talk about this exciting dance form. Motionhouse is a groundbreaking company of just 8 incredible dancers. It pushes the boundaries of dance, taking dance out onto the streets, projects onto buildings and swings dancers from construction cranes to create a high energ...

Going inside the mind of a choreographer is a fascinating experience! My discussion with British choreographer Theo Clinkard reveals a deeply considered, intelligent and thoroughly relevant approach to creating contemporary work. Theo’s latest piece ‘The Listening Room’ – created for  Danza Contemporanea de Cuba (Contemporary Dance of Cuba) – is an inspired examp...

Casanova is the hotly anticipated new ballet from the Northern Ballet. The story of the infamous womanising lover Casanova is being brought to life by choreographer Kenneth Tindall. Casanova is a decadent, spine-tingling spectacle of 18th century excess with gorgeous costumes, sumptuous staging created for the stunning dancers. Before becoming an award winning choreographer, Kenneth Tindall w...

The sensational show Mother Africa is currently on stage in New York, receiving rave reviews from the New York Times. In our latest DANCETALKS podcast interview we talk to the show’s dancer & choreographer Nolly ( Noluyanda) Mqulwana.  Nolly has an inspiring story having grown up and started dancing in South Africa, joined the Lion King in Singapore and then in Germany where sh...

The spectacular BalletBoyz new production Life  showcases the work of two choreographers taking the company of 10 male dancers from classical ballet to dance theatre all in one night. BalletBoyz dancer Bradley Waller talks about Life , taking up dancing at 16 and working with acclaimed choreographers. Listen now https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/djwpodcasts/1wwwod/masterballetboys.mp3

Hip hop is one of the fastest growing dance styles in the UK, but sometimes it’s given a bad rap.  ZooNation Dance Company is here to show the world that hip hop has a role to play in engaging, motivating and inspiring young people and providing them with positive role models and opportunities. ZooNation is bringing their latest show  Into The Hoods : Remixed to London’s Sadler’s Wells Peacock The...

Welcome to The Wonderful World of Dance’s very first ‘Dance Talks’ Podcast with balletLORENT! We’re very excited to bring you exclusive interviews with the world’s best dancers, choreographers and artistic directors from across the globe! Our very first interview is with Liv Lorent MBE the founder and artistic director of balletLORENT, UK’s leading contemporary...