Cal McCrystal the new Vamos Cuba! director flew out to Havana for rehearsals with the cast, crew, and musicians. He spent just over a week working on the show in a studio in Havana and at the end of the week was joined by Suzanne Walker, Sadler’s Wells Executive Producer.

Between now and September Cal will be working with the Vamos Cuba! team on finessing the show, which will be at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley, The Peacock in London, and Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg in October.

Pictured above: Cal, Nilda, Suzanne, and Vamos Cuba! team.

What productions do you work on?
m¡longa (Production Manager)
Havana Rakatan (Production Manager)
Vamos Cuba! (Stage Manager)
Sutra (Company Stage Manager)
Gravity Fatigue (Company Stage Manager)
Breakin’ Convention (Deputy Stage Manager)
Sampled (Deputy Stage Manager)

What is your favourite place you have visited on tour with Sadler’s Wells?
Charleston, South Carolina

What are you usually doing 10 minutes before a show starts?
Having a last-minute cheeky cigarette before making the 5-minute call

What is your favourite theatre in the world?
National Theatre, Taipei

What would you do if you didn’t work in dance?
Aid and Refugee work

What was your first experience of dance?
Dance lessons on a Wednesday at Nursery School, aged 3

What three words would you use to describe how dance makes you feel?
Boundless, inspired, unity

What is your best dance memory?
Being kissed on the cheek at the age of 9 by Miyako Yoshida in the wings of London Coliseum, performing Birmingham Royal Ballet’s The Nutcracker

What is your worst dance memory?
Watching any episode of Strictly Come Dancing / 6am starts unpacking shipping containers

Who is your dance hero?
Gene Kelly

Like Marius’ answers? Catch him at Sadler’s Wells next month working on m¡longa – book tickets here.

Whilst performing at Auckland Arts Festival in Natalia Osipova’s show, Sergei Polunin gave a ballet workshop to young male ballet dancers from New Zealand.

Curious to see whether ballet masterclasses take place upside down down under? Click the picture above to see a slideshow of pics from the class.

All photo credit: Candice Whitmore

The Osipova team left London for Auckland last week to perform the triple bill at the ninth annual Auckland Arts Festival. The show consists of works choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Russell Maliphant, and Arthur Pita and Natalia dances in all three. She is joined on stage by James O’Hara and Jason Kittelberger for Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s trio and by Sergei Polunin for the duets by Russell Maliphant and Arthur Pita.

After one of the performances Natalia, Sergei, Jason, and James were joined on stage by Auckland Arts Festival’s Artistic Director Carla van Zon for a post-show talk.

The show received some fantastic views from New Zealand’s press. Check one of them out here.

Pictured above are Natalia, Sergei, Carla van Zon, and New Zealand’s Governor General Patricia Reddy – the Queen’s representative in New Zealand.

Students, dance enthusiasts and first timers were treated to some world-class lessons in Birmingham over the course of the week. Tango aficionado’s Julia Urruty and Claudio Gonzalez’s class was on fire. Total novices and more experienced dancers were taught the art of the tango by world-class professionals, and by the end of the class a mini milonga in itself erupted.

The next day more experienced contemporary dancers including BTEC level 4 students from nearby schools were given a serious schooling in contemporary dance by Havana based Julio Torres and Yanelis Manzanet from Acosta Danza. This comprehensive class began with floor exercises and ended with a full rep.

Finally, just before the Friday night performance, Barcelona local Facundo from Iron Skulls Co raised the roof with his break dancing lesson. Packed full with local hip-hop dancers of different ages and genders, Facundo had a buzzing room full of poppers and lockers by the end.

Pictured above the Acosta Danza class in full swing.

Birmingham New Street train station was transformed into a dance floor where the only arrivals were contemporary dance and tango. Showcasing two of the ranging talents that would later be on the Hippodrome stage Julia Urruty and Claudio Gonzalez an award winning tango duet alongside Acosta Danza dancers Julio Torres and Yanelis Godoy cho-cho-chose to smash it at the station.

Next stop: stellar performances

Pictured above the four dancers and below a video of the Acosta Danza performance.

Natalia Osipova and Friends dazzled the big apple with four performances at New York City Center. As Broadway World write, “ripples of applause” broke out in the audience as they watched Natalia and Sergei “believably embody a 21st century movement aesthetic [in a way that] was both astonishing and heartening.”

Pictured above are Natalia Osipova, Sergei Polunin, James O’Hara, and Jason Kittelberger warming up on the stage at New York City Center before getting ready to wow the crowd.

Next stop on the Osipova tour: Athens.

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, the monks of the Shaolin Temple, Ali Thabet, and a team of musicians and technicians embarked on a tour of Japan with performances at Orchard Hall, Bunkamura Tokyo, Aichi Prefectural Arts Centre, Nagoya and Kitakyushu Performing Arts Center.

All the performances were received incredibly well, with Japanese fans showing their glee on social media.

The final performance at Kitakyushu marked the one hundred and ninety fourth performance of Sutra. So if you missed out, make sure you are there for the two hundredth performance. And if you want to know where that’ll be visit this page or the Sadler’s Wells touring page to keep up to date.

Photo above: Sutra’s monks of Shaolin Temple outside Kitakyushu Performing Arts Center, taken by Company Stage Manger, Marius Arnold-Clarke.

Over the course of this week thousands upon thousands of fans have flocked to the Royal Albert Hall to wave goodbye to Carlos Acosta as he retires from ballet.

Carlos Acosta: The Classical Farewell has filled up London’s iconic venue with fans treating Carlos like a rockstar, whooping and shrieking as he leaped and spun across the stage, reminding us with each step why he is at the top of the game.

The repertoire includes classical excerpts from well-known ballets and the full orchestra and choir only add to the epic feeling.

If you missed it, you missed out – but watch this space for more Carlos news.

Hasta la vista Carlos!

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Last week Natalia Osipova and friends returned to Sadler’s Wells stage with performances running all week dazzling crowds of all ages. Older ballet fans enjoyed her leaps and spins, whilst younger children waited outside stage door for autographs and threw flowers at the stage.

The triple bill opens with Arthur Pita’s Run Mary Run, before Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s absorbing Qutb – danced with James O’Hara and Jason Kittelberger, and closes with Russell Maliphant’s dazzling Silent Echo.

If you missed this in London then fly to New York where the show is on at New York City Center in November.

Photo credit: Bill Cooper