Reviews Archives - Georgina Butler

georginabutler 22 July 2026

REVIEW: ‘Royal Ballet School Summer Performance’ – Royal Ballet and Opera, July 2026

The Royal Ballet School Summer Performance 2026 celebrated past, present and future with a special centenary programme of heritage ballets and new creations, danced by outstanding students.

Showcasing end-of-term excellence, the Royal Ballet School’s annual matinee on the revered main stage of the Royal Opera House, accompanied by the orchestra, is always a highly anticipated event. It is a privilege to watch the next generation of ballet stars step into the spotlight in such a glorious venue. This year, the performance also offered an opportunity to reflect on the evolution and impact of the school, as it marks 100 years of nurturing exceptional dance talent.

As one of the most sought-after ballet schools in the world, the Royal Ballet School provides full-time training for students aged eleven to nineteen. The school operates across two London campuses. The younger students (aged eleven to sixteen) train and board at the historic White Lodge in Richmond Park. The older students (aged sixteen to nineteen) attend Upper School, which is located opposite the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden – these two buildings are linked by the Bridge of Aspiration, an elegant pedestrian footbridge, suspended high above the street, that allows easy access between the school and the world-famous home of the Royal Ballet company.

From their earliest years at the school, students aspire to become exceptional dancers. The elite training they receive strives to not only support them in achieving this goal but also help them blossom as creative artists who will shape the future of the art form. The school was established, in 1926, as the Academy of Choreographic Art. From the beginning, Dame Ninette de Valois (1898–2001), its visionary founder, championed creativity and continuous learning. A century later, choreography and a pioneering spirit towards pedagogy, performance and professional development remain at the heart of the school’s approach.

This year’s summer performance rounds off Iain Mackay’s second academic year as artistic director of the Royal Ballet School. Mackay, who was educated at the upper school and reached the rank of principal dancer at Birmingham Royal Ballet, gave an impassioned speech that emphasised his pride to be leading the school into its next 100 years. Noting both the bravery that the students possess to pursue a dream and the value that those who believe in the school’s mission bring to the institution, he attributed the greatness of the Royal Ballet School to every single person who has ever given it something.

The sense of reverence, influence and brilliance was embodied in this year’s mixed repertoire. The programme featured an eternal classic, a rarely performed revival, five new creations (four choreographed by alumni of the school, one choreographed by a returning collaborator) and a restaging of a charming staple (also choreographed by an alumnus of the school). It demonstrated a variety of dancing styles and was positively brimming with talent.

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georginabutler 8 July 2026

REVIEW: Matthew Bourne’s ‘The Car Man’ – Milton Keynes Theatre, July 2026

Temperatures are sizzling inside Milton Keynes Theatre this week courtesy of Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man – a slick, steamy, sexy dance thriller.

This intoxicating production is Georges Bizet’s Carmen reignited in Bourne’s signature dance–theatre style. Inspired by the spirit of seduction and bohemian lifestyle portrayed in the opera, it retains the elements of sexual jealousy and crime passionnel. However, the plot is radically reworked and the smouldering shenanigans are relocated from the familiar cigarette factory in nineteenth-century Spain to a greasy garage-diner in late-1950s America.

The supercharged storytelling begins as theatregoers enter the auditorium. The cast, in character as residents of the mid-western Italian American town of Harmony, are starting to go about their business onstage. Soon, mechanics are tinkering with clapped-out cars at the dusty garage. Patrons are sipping ice-cold beers, smoking cigarettes and eyeing up more than the specials board at the neon-lit diner. Tools grind and silverware clinks. A revving car engine roars. A billboard welcomes us to Harmony, reminding us to drive safely. And a handsome stranger saunters into view, immediately captivating cast and audience members alike with his magnetic gaze.

Despite its pleasant name, a heady mix of sweat, motor oil and lust has a stifling hold over this town. Hidden desires and interpersonal tensions simmer restlessly – everyone wants something that seems just out of reach. The arrival of a dangerously charismatic drifter is, unsurprisingly, disruptive. Things suddenly start hotting up in Harmony…

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georginabutler 4 July 2026

REVIEW: London Children’s Ballet’s ‘Anne of Green Gables’ – Peacock Theatre, July 2026

Let your imagination take flight and heed this pinky promise: London Children’s Ballet’s riveting revival of Anne of Green Gables is unquestionably West End worthy.

Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery’s red-headed hurricane of a character was first introduced to readers in 1908, but everything about Anne Shirley’s antics – the ups and downs as she disturbs the steady rhythm of humdrum rural life by dancing to the beat of her own drum – is truly timeless. Anne (with an ‘e’) is an eleven-year-old orphan who arrives in the tight-knit community of Avonlea expecting to be adopted by Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, two middle-aged siblings. Unfortunately, they were expecting a strong-bodied boy to help on their farm, Green Gables, not a strong-willed slip of a girl.

Intelligent and imaginative, yet starved of love, Anne captivates the Cuthberts with her radical optimism and steadfast refusal to believe that life should be anything but extraordinary. She opens up about the trauma she has experienced and, overcome by compassion, they decide to keep her. Anne is a resilient dreamer, a fierce protector, a wild spirit. She has integrity and her heart is in the right place, but she makes mistakes. Still, she transforms every disappointment into an adventure.

Anne brings wonder into the lives of those around her. Her idiosyncratic and infectious perspective means she pioneers a rebellion against a world that is determined to drain the magic out of everything. This is what creatives – artists, writers, musicians, actors, singers, dancers – strive to do. They notice details that others rush past, maintain a sense of awe, play with ideas, change how we look at things. They remind us of our humanity by reassuring us that we can thrive as our authentic selves.

Given the right environment and the opportunity to spread their wings, children are capable of far more than grown-ups often give them credit for. London Children’s Ballet proves this every time its cohorts of youngsters take to the stage at London’s Peacock Theatre, leaving the dancers’ committed families and friends, the wider theatregoing public, high-profile patrons and reviewers beyond impressed. Anne of Green Gables, tweaked with fresh choreography since its first outing in 2022, perfectly demonstrates that this remarkable company takes creativity and the beauty of finding a home – not just reaching a geographic destination, but claiming a space to connect with kindred spirits – seriously.

“And people laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas you have to use big words to express them, haven’t you?”

Anne Shirley, from Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery

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georginabutler 18 February 2026

REVIEW: ‘Ballet Icons Gala 2026’ – London Coliseum, February 2026

Ballet Icons Gala 2026 provided a star-studded, celebratory evening of ballet with a programme of fourteen works, including a UK premiere and two world premieres.

Established in 2006, by Olga Balakleets, this annual, one-night-only event presents an outstanding international cast of elite dancers from top-tier companies. Featuring live music from English National Ballet Philharmonic and rounded off with a post-show reception for VIP ticketholders, it is a highlight of the cultural calendar.

Following an introductory video showing assorted leading lights paying tribute to two decades (and counting!) of passion, planning and performances, the twentieth-anniversary edition opened with gala staple Le Corsaire. Danced by Iana Salenko (principal dancer at Berlin State Ballet), wearing a dazzling royal blue tutu, and Daniil Simkin (formerly a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and Berlin State Ballet), the mere promise of its virtuosic technical displays sent the audience into raptures. As the high-seas adventure became reality, the applause intensified. Both stunning and refined – unshakeable fouettés and quicksilver footwork from Salenko; quintuple pirouettes and explosive jumps from Simkin – they sailed through flawlessly.

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georginabutler 11 February 2026

REVIEW: Matthew Bourne’s production of ‘The Red Shoes’ – Milton Keynes Theatre, February 2026

Life rushes by so press pause for an evening of movement, music and melodrama – Matthew Bourne’s production of The Red Shoes is as mesmerising as ever.

Once a dancer, always a dancer? There is something about dance that seems to inspire a ritualistic, fanatical devotion. Dancers don’t want to dance. Dancers need to dance. Once bitten by the boogie bug, dancing is an itch that must be scratched. And, unlike other art forms, the dancer is the dance – the artist’s own body is the instrument, the canvas and the masterpiece itself.

Pouring oneself into a pursuit in this way demands energy. So much energy that the uninitiated might, understandably, perceive dance as a depleting entity. Yet, in fact, dancing somehow energises those who simply must dance. It is a way to focus, escape, release, revive. Think of the spark of electricity that turns chaos into liberation for Billy Elliot, or the toe-tapping splish-splashing that turns a gloomy downpour into glorious euphoria for Don Lockwood in Singin’ in the Rain.

Inevitably, sacrifices must be made to succeed professionally in an industry that demands people constantly prove who they are and why their dancing matters. There is no greater sacrifice than that made by fledgling ballerina Victoria (Vicky) Page in British film-making duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s intoxicating backstage drama The Red Shoes, released in 1948. Embroiled in a tragic tug-of-war between professional artistic obsession and personal human love, Victoria (flame-haired Moira Shearer) is compelled to choose dance over a normal life, ultimately dancing to her death. Matthew Bourne’s sumptuous production, gloriously realised in his dance–theatre style, is a true love letter to the film, to the arts and to the dreamers and doers who dare to dedicate themselves to what sets their heart ablaze.