She’s hung up her dance shoes but is still keeping us on our toes – Sylvie Guillem won an award from Abu Dhabi Festival in association with Chopard for her outstanding achievement in dance and for her ongoing dedication and efforts to protect the planet.

Sylvie said about the award: “I feel fortunate and privileged to have been able to do freely something that, from an early age, has become a real passion. I am really proud to receive this award, for a career which was only pure pleasure for 40 years”.

Pictured above from left to right is His Excellency Abdulrahman Ghanem Al Mutaiwee CVO the UAE Ambassador to UK, Sylvie Guillem with her award, and H.E. Hoda Al Khamis-Kanoo ADMAF Founder and Artistic Director Abu Dhabi festival.

The lead up to Christmas was a dazzling, history-making, triumph for Sylvie and the Life in Progress team. Performing five shows in the beautiful Tokyo Bunka Kaikan theatre this marked the end of Sylvie’s dazzling career. As 11,500 fans travelled – some across borders – to witness this epic event Tokyo’s NBS laid on the treats in the foyer. This included a video booth where people could record personal messages to Sylvie as well as huge video screens where Sylvie had recorded her own message to her fans and a video round up of her career highlights – of which there are so many to choose from!

2015 really did mark history in dance and the Life in Progress team excelled in creating beautiful memories for dance fans across the world: as they visited 23 different venues in 22 cities in 14 countries.

And to celebrate the end of the fantastic tour – Sylvie and the team decided to go bowling in their brand new tour t-shirts. What an end to a spell-binding tour.

As Life in Progress approaches the end of its tour the show proved it’s still as fantastic as ever with three astounding performances at New York City Center. The crowd were in awe and Sylvie dazzled them and wowed them, and even made them laugh when she popped on stage for a quick bit improvisation during ‘Duo2015’ – the only piece which she doesn’t dance.

The company and crew felt right at home in New York and pictured above is beatboxer Grace with a Sea Shepherd sticker found at one of the city’s coffee houses.

With only one European performance in St. Polten left before the tour and Sylvie’s incomparable stage career culminate in Tokyo be sure to catch it while you can – or live to regret missing it forever!

As Life in Progress progresses with its Asian tour the company have travelled from Taiwan to Beijing and Singapore performing to enraptured and sold out audiences before their final show in Shanghai this weekend. And it’s clear to see Shanghai are excited to have them, with their Time Out picking ‘Life in Progress’ as the critics’ choice for the upcoming Shanghai China Arts Festival. You can read the full article here. And why wouldn’t they be? When you read reviews like this and this from Singapore it’s clear that Life in Progress it’s a totally unmissable success.

Pictured above are the three technicians, Zeynep Kepekli, Nick Rundall, and John Maddox at The Great Wall of China.

Life in Progress began its Asia tour at the weekend with two performances in Taipei National Theatre.

In the run up to the performance Sylvie appeared on Taiwanese television. Both here, and in interviews she spoke about her connection to Taipei: despite first visiting it late in her career it only felt right to Sylvie to visit Taipei on her farewell tour to say goodbye to the Taiwanese people. You can watch an excerpt of Sylvie on Taiwanese TV here, where she receives a painting by Taiwan’s famous painter Kiran, which depicts a little girl dancing.

Last week Sylvie Guillem said ‘bye’ to the UK as Birmingham Hippodrome hosted her last ever UK performance. Although Life in Progress will continue its international tour until the end of December, all the UK destinations have now been visited (Previously: Sadler’s Wells, London Coliseum, Edinburgh International Festival).

The audience was spellbound by the entire performance and the standing ovation continued for over five minutes with members of the audience in the stalls throwing rose after rose at Sylvie on the stage. And who could blame them, with The Daily Telegraph saying: “What a bittersweet privilege it is to see her go, and how very smart of her it is to leave us while we all still want so very much more.”

For more information on Sylvie’s next touring locations click here.

Last week Life in Progress was at London Coliseum for six performances over the week. These performances were particularly special as they marked the last time Sylvie will ever dance in London.

But don’t freak out if you missed them as now Life in Progress is in Edinburgh, and if you haven’t got tickets for that? How about Birmingham Hippodrome in September? For a full list of touring venues click here.

Life in Progress traveled to Festival Castell de Peralada. This is a festival in a beautiful castle in a village on the outskirts of Girona. Here, Life in Progress was performed at the tours last outside venue to a sold out audience. Despite some rain delaying things the resilient audience were incredibly enthusiastic and as always the show was met with a standing ovation.

Pictured above are Brigel and Emanuela, two of the dancers, warming up as the three musicians sound check and give them a beat to move to.

Another week and another festival for the jam-packed Life in Progress schedule. This week the show was at Les Nuìts de Fourvière – a two month long theatre, dance, music, and cinema festival that takes place in the Gallo-Roman outdoor theatres of Fourvière.

Life in Progress was performed in the Grand Theatre, pictured above before the sun started to set and the show began. And what an atmospheric location! The audience as always were captivated and threw the cushions they’d been sat on at the stage at the end – a French custom way of clapping, or so they said.

Video credit: Phillip Burton

Life In Progress was performed three times at Chekhov International Theatre Festival in Moscow this week. The show was on at the Moscow State Academic Mossovet Theatre with a packed audience each night consisting of just under nine hundred people. The captivated audience broke out into a wild applause at the end, which was too much for some with one overzealous audience member running on stage, planting a kiss on Sylvie before disappearing into the night!

Above is the team: dancers, musicians, technicians, and producers having a spot of lunch with the UK ambassador in Russia at the Kremlin.