Rambert announces return to the stage

Rambert and its junior company, Rambert2, have announced their return to stage performances before live audiences. From May onwards, the companies will undertake extensive national tours, with London dates included for both.

Neither has performed in theatres for 14 long months, but this was not wasted time, particularly for Rambert, which took the opportunity to innovate by creating ambitious works to be live-streamed in real time. This way, in collaboration with guest choreographers and film-makers, Rambert has developed an exciting new medium where dance, theatre and film blend to extraordinary effect, with the added thrill of live performance.

Their latest livestream is Rooms – see Culture Whisper's four-star review here.

Coming to Sadler's Wells in early June is the stage version of Rambert's first made-for-live-streaming work Draw From Within, a challenging kaleidoscopic piece by the Belgian avant-garde choreographer Wim Vandekeybus. You can read Culture Whisper's full four-star review of the original live-stream here.

If you've watched the original live-stream, you'll be interested to see how its essentially cinematic structure is adapted to the stage. If you haven't seen it, then this is a great opportunity to watch Rambert's remarkable dancers fully owning a very demanding work.

Rambert2 offers one-year contracts to exceptional dance-school leavers, both British and foreign, who must simultaneously work on their MA. Given the lockdown, the 2020 intake has been unable to perform; so this tour is their first opportunity to step on stage and show their mettle.

They'll be dancing two pieces: Home, a special commission by the up-and-coming American choreographer Micaela Taylor, inspired by the place where we've been spending so much of the past year; and Sharon Eyal's Killer Pig. Danced to a very loud, very repetitive thumping score by her regular collaborator Ori Lichtik, this amounts to an endurance test for performers. The preceding Rambert2 cohort did it full justice; and we've every reason to expect the current intake to do so, too.

Rambert2 will perform at the artsdepot in North London on Friday 1 October. Full details will be published on the venue's website in due course.