Next Generation Festival, Linbury Theatre

The Next Generation Festival at the ROH's smaller second stage, the Linbury Theatre, offers an unrivalled opportunity to assess and enjoy the abundance of young talent in junior dance companies and vocational schools throughout the UK and abroad.

If past editions of this admirable initiative are anything to go by, this year's Festival, if not as international as before, will offer plenty to enjoy, from classical ballet to contemporary dance, as well as a welcome bout of vigorous hip-hop.

Here's the line-up in chronological order:

The Finnish National Ballet Youth Company: Wednesday 7 & Thursday 8 June, 7:45pm, tickets £3–£25
Established in 2013, this is now a 14-strong multinational troupe, chosen through exacting auditions, and kept busy throughout the year with its own productions, as well as being required to perform with the main company. The level is impressive, as you'll be able to appreciate in a programme tailored to the dancers' strengths and including: Emrecan Tanış’ Fragments, a poignant insight into the choreographer’s own experience with anxiety attacks; Jorma Elo’s Over Glow, set to the music of Felix Mendelssohn and Ludwig van Beethoven; and Kristian Lever’s A Collection of Connections, exploring ideas of love, loss and community,
Programme duration: 1 hour 20 mins inc one interval.

McNicol Ballet Collective, Devotions: Saturday 10 June, 2:30pm and 7:45pm, tickets £3–£25
This daring and innovative small company debuted in November 2021 to general acclaim, featuring remarkable dancers and a slew of new work by Andrew McNicol. A couple of the pieces of its inaugural programme return in its triple bill for the Festival: Of Silence, an elegiac piece for six dancers set to music by the Latvian composer Peteris Vasks; and in complete contrast, an injection of American energy and attack in Bates Beats, a piece for two bare-chested men in leather trousers and three women in flowing short midnight-blue dresses set to a score by Mason Bates. The programme opens with the world premiere of Moonbend, set to a score by visionary pop artist Perfume Genius, with costumes by British designer Louise Flanagan.
Programme duration: TBC

BRB2: Carlos Acosta's Classical Selection: Tuesday 13 & Wednesday 14 June, 7:45pm, last few tickets remaining £3–£13
Carlos Acosta's new initiative, a junior company bringing together newcomers and young dancers from the main Birmingham Royal Ballet company, had its world premiere in Northampton at the end of April. You can read Culture Whisper's review of its eclectic programme here.
Its programme for the Next Generation Festival will be culled from that opening show, featuring extracts from the classics and some fun contemporary numbers.
Programme duration: TBC

ZooNation Youth Company: Saturday 17 June, 2:30pm & 7pm; Sunday 18 June, 12:30pm & 4pm. Tickets £3–£20
Next Generation Festival veterans ZooNation Youth Company brings its own brand of energetic hip-hop to the stage with a programme that will showcase the breathtaking talent of youngsters from across the UK. Details of this year's programme are still to come, but judging by last year's performance, it will speak powerfully across the generations.
Programme duration: TBC

The Royal Ballet Upper School: Tuesday 20 & Wednesday 21 June, 7pm, last few tickets remaining £3–£13
A unique opportunity to assess the talent and commitment of the undergraduates from The Royal Ballet School. They will perform a typically demanding programme that includes the Dream Scene from Carlos Acosta’s Don Quixote for The Royal Ballet; Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s The Four Seasons set to three Verdi operas; and excerpts from alumnus Christopher Wheeldon’s glowing contemporary masterpiece, Within the Golden Hour. They will also debut a new work by Mikaela Polley and interpret Jiří Kylián’s witty SechsTänze.
Programme duration: TBC

Rambert School: Friday 23 & Saturday 24 June, 7pm, last few tickets remaining for 23 June £8–£13; 24 June returns only
The Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, to give it its full name, trains young dancers to be at the cutting edge of dance in the UK. Accordingly, the programme its students are bringing to the Next Generation Festival consist of up-to-the-minute works by emerging choreographers such as Daniel Davidson, Ana Maria Lucaciu, Matsena Productions, Jessica Nupen, Seeta Patel, and Thick and Tight, alongside two pieces by established dance makers Russell Maliphant and Wayne McGregor.
Programme duration: TBC