Lyndsey Winship

The Edinburgh Fringe’s dance and circus programme is praised for ambition, technical brilliance and a spirit of connection, but receives mixed artistic assessments. Dusk/Night/Dawn stands out for Donna Carnow and Gina Alm’s extraordinary pole work, while Sofiane Chalal’s Bigger combines comic performance with reflections on fatphobia. Border Bodies explores collective movement and diversity through a slow, atmospheric build, whereas Everybody’s Got a Bomb has strong ideas but insufficiently developed choreography. Pace offers gentle, effective hand-to-hand storytelling, while Aloft’s The Pieces uses ladders to symbolize cooperation but ultimately fails to deliver enough excitement.

One Fell Swoop Circus’s By a Thread distinguishes itself from the crowded Edinburgh circus programme through a simple central concept: seven performers manipulating one giant rope with two pulleys. The rope becomes a slackline, trapeze, climbing route and slide, while the show’s dreamy pacing and soulful soundtrack create a quietly magical atmosphere. The review especially praises the performers’ personalities, group dynamics, Ellie Grow’s handstands and a tender aerial duet focused on human connection. The production runs at Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms until 30 August before touring.

Jack Anderson, Charlotte Mclean and piper Malin Lewis rework Irish and Highland dance through distortion, deconstruction, bass-driven music and theatrical mockery. The performance explores artistic inheritance, competition, class, militarism, misogyny and political resistance while reclaiming traditional forms on the performers’ own terms. Although the show can feel unfocused and would benefit from tighter gags and greater substance, the performers’ candid reflections and renewed affection for their traditions are compelling, with Anderson’s dancing and Lewis’s piping singled out for particular praise. The production runs at Assembly @ Dance Base in Edinburgh until 23 August before moving to Cecil Sharp House in London as part of Dance Umbrella.

Yllana’s Flamenc Oh!! is a playful flamenco dance-comedy about a family divided between traditionalism and modernity. Broad humour, audience participation and pop-song adaptations—including “Eye of the Tiger” and “Purple Rain”—support a message about breaking down barriers, rejecting macho expectations and embracing difference. The flamenco is performed with professional skill, particularly by guitarist Luis Gallo and dancer Anabel Moreno, although the comedy becomes repetitive. The production runs at Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms until 30 August before transferring to London’s Peacock Theatre from 30 September to 10 October.

Marc Brew’s autobiographical dance show follows a young boy in rural Australia, represented by dancer Ross Malloy, who is told that boys do not dance but finds joy and freedom in pop music and movement. Blending disco, jazz, acrobatics, BMX tricks, video animation and an exuberant 1980s soundtrack, the production contrasts childhood repression with the liberating possibilities of the big city. Wheelchair Latin dancer Piotr Iwanicki plays the adult Brew as he revisits and reconciles with his past. The review finds the show warm, accessible and especially enjoyable for audiences familiar with its cultural references, while noting that its emotional and choreographic complexity is limited by its focus on children aged eight to 13.

Drew McOnie, who began his career as a teenage performer in Cats, is directing and choreographing a new dance-led production at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. The revival aims to honour Gillian Lynne’s groundbreaking original choreography while incorporating contemporary street, commercial, jazz and classical dance. McOnie describes the production as more sensual and feral, with performers embodying animal forms rather than wearing conventional cat costumes. He also praises Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theatrical vision and argues that Cats works best as a live, imaginative theatrical ritual rather than as a film.

Marianela Núñez’s first solo-led show at the Royal Opera House presents technically demanding and carefully chosen excerpts from the Royal Ballet’s repertoire. At 44, Núñez is praised for frictionless technique, command and self-possession, particularly in Le Corsaire, while the review questions whether her reserve sometimes limits emotional intensity. The programme also showcases colleagues, with Matthew Ball and Mayara Magri’s Romeo and Juliet singled out as a highlight, alongside performances from works by Robbins, Ashton, McGregor, Wheeldon and Balanchine.

Royal Ballet principal Marianela Núñez discusses her 28-year career in Britain, her enduring passion for ballet and her Argentine identity, which has led to comparisons with Lionel Messi. At 44, she is preparing her first self-curated programme, Timeless, at the Royal Opera House, featuring partners including Vadim Muntagirov, Matthew Ball, William Bracewell and Patricio Revé. Núñez says the delayed solo showcase was a positive outcome of working without an agent and reflects on ageing, insecurity, resilience and the sustaining ritual of daily ballet class. The programme includes works by Jerome Robbins and Frederick Ashton, but she says she has no plans to retire.

Oona Doherty’s world premiere Leather Jacket at London’s Bold Tendencies features eight dancers performing highly physical, rhythm-driven movement in leather jackets, accompanied by electronic music and Cormac Begley’s experimental Irish folk score. The review praises the dancers’ collective energy, visible exhaustion and human camaraderie, but finds the choreography itself less compelling and the concept thinner than in Doherty’s earlier work. The 45-minute piece is presented as an unpredictable but relatively slight stage in her development.

Hofesh Shechter’s In the Brain, performed by the international young dancers of Shechter II at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, combines rave-like rhythms, ritualistic group movement and moody lighting. Developed from Cave, the piece features exceptional youthful energy and a score by Shechter with additional music from Âme, though its quieter passages and diversions do not always illuminate the work. The production is recognisably Shechter’s and offers an atmospheric, exhilarating communal experience without substantially breaking new ground.

Wayne McGregor’s Venice Dance Biennale explores an expansive definition of dance through works involving light, air, water, sound, memory and social power. Andrea Salustri’s Invisible is praised for its elemental visual drama, while Soa Ratsifandrihana’s Fampitaha, Fampita, Fampitàna reflects on diaspora and embodied memory. Mamela Nyamza’s The Herd/Less presents shifting power dynamics through quietly political imagery, and Emanuel Gat’s Five Days in the Sun uses Mahler’s Fifth Symphony in a deliberately unconventional but uneven relationship between music and movement. The festival’s anniversary programming underscores the diversity and evolving boundaries of contemporary dance.

Director Indiana Lown-Collins is staging Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost at Shakespeare’s Globe with flamenco music, dance and choreography. Drawing on her Spanish heritage, she sees flamenco’s themes of passion, sexuality, death and female power as a strong match for the play’s romantic conflicts and assertive women. Actors are undertaking intensive dance training, while the complex rhythms complement Shakespeare’s rhyming verse. The production aims to bring the play’s cerebral language into a more visceral, physical experience and invite the audience to dance.

A Guardian selection of ten highly rated shows at the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe includes theatre, comedy, circus and performance works. The recommendations range from Bryony Kimmings’ climate-focused Bog Witch and a documentary about deaths and care failures at HMP Woodhill to Alaa Shehada’s autobiographical account of growing up in Jenin, HIV-related storytelling in Tell Me, and Sam Nicoresti’s transgender-focused comedy. Other picks include experimental comedy, circus, puppetry and musical satire, with performances scheduled across Edinburgh venues in August.

Five choreographers create new dances in response to Siobhan Davies’s 1977 solo Sphinx without having seen the original work, relying instead on Davies’s recollections of its creation. The review praises the project’s focus on creative process, memory and the challenge of preserving ephemeral dance. Shannelle “Tali” Fergus’s introspective piece is singled out as the most lucid, while works by Dan Daw and Temitope Ajose, Andrea Buckley, and Sasha Mahfouz Shadid offer distinctive responses. The evening is judged thoughtful and rewarding, with further chapters planned as the year-long project expands to 20 choreographers.

Lil Buck’s Oxford project 1776 uses jookin and other street-dance styles to revisit the founding of the United States and expose the gap between its promise of equality and the oppression of enslaved people and others. Created with ZooNation and Body Politic youth dancers, the performance contrasts authoritarian uniformity with the liberating force of individuality, rhythm and movement. The project also exemplifies Oxford’s interdisciplinary ambitions, though the Schwarzman Centre’s private funding raises ethical questions. Its most powerful statement comes at the curtain call, where every young dancer receives a solo in a celebration of collective joy and freedom.

Stephanie Lake’s contemporary dance work Colossus receives a largely positive review for turning 60 London Contemporary Dance School students into a precisely coordinated mass of bodies. The 50-minute piece uses formations, waves, factions and sudden bursts of movement to explore how groups can function as mobs, teams, audiences or controlled subjects, creating a powerful physical effect. Although the choreography is judged less emotionally and dramatically rich than Crystal Pite’s work, its logistical precision, surprises and sheer spectacle make it an enjoyable and impressive production at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Rocío Molina’s Calentamiento begins as an extended warm-up built around the dancer’s disciplined flamenco footwork and gradually expands into a punk-inflected performance featuring rock drumming, singers, satire, bass and metal chairs. The review praises Molina’s technical precision, distinctive physical language and ability to make repetition, exhaustion and continual restarting into both a personal portrait of dancing and a broader metaphor for perseverance.

Tony-winning choreographer Sonya Tayeh created The Surge: An Ode to Sinéad O’Connor after the singer’s death in 2023, drawing on O’Connor’s music, memoir and outspoken resistance to abuse and religious authority. Performed by 10 women over 40, the work explores grief, spirituality, aging, female identity and the search for an authentic self through intense, communal movement. It premieres at Manchester’s Aviva Studios from 25 to 27 June, with Tayeh hoping the dancers’ collective energy will honor O’Connor’s enduring influence.

The Guardian highlights twelve dance and circus productions at the 2026 Edinburgh festivals. Recommendations include San Francisco Ballet’s AI-themed Mere Mortals, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s autobiographical Ihsane, queer physical theatre in Good Enough?, masked dance in Under Mask, Palestinian folk-inspired circus in Step and a Half, and the flamenco comedy Flamenc Oh!!. Other selections feature maze-like circus design, disability and autobiographical dance, boxing-ring rivalries, children’s clowning and the social chaos inspired by Woodstock 99.

Jesús Carmona’s UnYdos opens the Flamenco Festival at Sadler’s Wells with a stripped-back performance featuring Carmona, Lucía Campillo and four musicians. The review praises Carmona’s control, dramatic shifts in energy and rhythmic footwork, Campillo’s expressive use of a shawl and bata de cola dress, and singer Jesús Corbacho’s sensitive vocals. Although the production offers little radical experimentation or thematic development, its stark staging highlights Carmona’s mastery.

Italia Conti, founded in 1911 and now based in Woking, has shifted from the harsh, confrontational training associated with traditional stage schools toward a more supportive approach focused on student wellbeing and resilience. The school has consolidated its sites, introduced bursaries for low-income students and operates a food bank, while facing rising costs, reduced arts provision and concern that students are less prepared for repetitive professional graft. Staff and students also discuss the growing importance of social media, the potential impact of AI on performers and the continuing value of live human performance.

A Life in Four Seasons uses dancers ranging from young to old to represent the four seasons of life, with each season divided into head, heart and gut and set to a rave-influenced reworking of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. The concept benefits from the cast’s age diversity, but the choreography’s broadly street-dance-influenced style and steady 4/4 rhythm often blur the performers’ individual strengths. Standout moments, including Michael Naylor’s intense club-scene performance, reveal the distinctive energy the production otherwise lacks, while the head-heart-gut symbolism is not always clear.

Paul Lightfoot and Sol León make their first appearance with a British dance company as the Royal Ballet performs their work at the Royal Opera House. The programme combines the revived 2006 ballet Shoot the Moon with Salle de Danse, a lockdown-era work reconstructed for the company. The review praises the choreography’s precision, visual inventiveness and moments of ensemble intensity, especially Lauren Cuthbertson’s performance, while finding the style emotionally opaque, overexpressive and occasionally repetitive.

Rambert’s centenary triple bill at Sadler’s Wells rejects nostalgia in favor of recent choreography and a forward-looking identity under artistic director Benoit Swan Pouffer. (La)Horde’s Hop(e)storm is the standout, transforming lindy hop into a rave-inflected work, while In Crimson showcases Rambert’s dancers through intensely expressive movement. Emma Evelein’s Gallery of Consequence offers energetic airport vignettes that are entertaining but emotionally ephemeral. Overall, the program demonstrates Rambert’s commitment to new work and its exceptional performers, even if not every piece is equally thrilling.

Marco da Silva Ferreira’s F*cking Future uses club beats, repetitive movement and collective choreography to express protest and resistance through partying. At Sadler’s Wells East, eight dancers gradually build toward an anticipated cathartic release, but the energy repeatedly folds back into the group rather than producing an easy climax. The review praises the work’s sensuality, discipline and ecstatic exhaustion while questioning whether its deliberately restrained structure carries the audience fully with it.

Rambert’s artistic director Benoit Swan Pouffer is reshaping the 100-year-old company around contemporary, experimental work and popular adaptations. Productions based on Peaky Blinders and It’s a Sin have helped expand audiences, with Peaky Blinders reaching 250,000 people, 65% of whom were new to Rambert and 21% new to dance. Pouffer argues that commercially successful adaptations can function as a contemporary company’s equivalent of The Nutcracker, helping subsidize riskier work while making dance more accessible. He also supports immersive formats, digital experimentation and live performance as a response to changing technology, including AI, though touring remains financially loss-making and the proposed return of Rambert2 depends on new funding.

Chris Dennis, the performer behind La Voix, discusses his journey from a childhood Karen Carpenter impersonation and cruise-ship cabaret to appearances on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Eurovision and Strictly Come Dancing. He describes La Voix as a glamorous, mainstream and family-friendly character shaped by British panto and light entertainment, while explaining how LGBTQ+ cruises provided a rare experience of living as part of a majority. Dennis is now making his long-held theatrical ambitions real by playing Miss Hannigan in Annie, supported by his fiancé Luke, though he continues to feel nervous about the expectations surrounding his growing profile.

Antonia Franceschi's Bristol dance programme combines a short neo-Balanchine opener, the work-in-progress Prophecy about Lee Krasner's life and relationship with Jackson Pollock, the Krasner-inspired ballet Uncaged, and Edward Watson's solo Asylum. Prophecy is praised for its intriguing portrayal of Krasner's suppressed artistic ambitions and for using voiceover to make minimal choreography effective; the reviewer hopes to see it expanded. Claire van Kampen's live score captures the fragmented dynamism of Krasner's paintings, although its relationship with the choreography is not always clear. Watson delivers the evening's strongest performance in a striking display of physical transformation.