The artistry will be glittering at the second edition of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival, which runs in London from 12th March to 8th April at the Royal Ballet and Opera, Sadler’s Wells, South Bank Centre and Tate Modern.
Following on from the hugely successful inaugural event in 2022, this iteration of the festival created in partnership with the world-famous French luxury jewellery company features 15 dazzling shows from a whole gamut of different cultures.
Taking place at iconic venues in our capital city, Dance Reflections showcases artists who, in the words of Catherine Renier, President & CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels, have specialised in, “Collaborations with prestigious partners, contributions to major choreographic events, support for emerging and touring artists… These various commitments, in keeping with the values of creation, transmission and education dear to the Maison, all meet the same objective of celebrating contemporary choreographic art.”
“The second Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival in London is an opportunity to explore new aspects of our heritage.”
– Catherine Reiner
Including repertory works, dance workshops, artist forums and awareness-raising initiatives, all emphasising the connections between dance heritage and modern choreography, the festival highlights imaginative ways in which dancers have evolved exciting new forms of artistic expression.
Age of Content by (LA)HORDE with the Ballet National de Marseille, for example, borrows the language of action films, musicals and videogames.
Meanwhile Sakinan göze çöp batar by Christian Rizzo draws on traditional Turkish dance, and Shu Lea Cheang and Dondon Hounwn’s Hagay Dreaming is a performance piece melding tribal legends from Taiwan’s indigenous Truku culture with science fiction.
For her part, in We wear our wheels with pride…, Robyn Orlin seeks inspiration from the Zulu rickshaws of her childhood.
The ground-breaking BIPED by Merce Cunningham will be performed at Sadler’s Well on the 19th-20th of March by the Lyon Opera Ballet. This ground-breaking ballet from 1999 was the first in which virtual dancing figures shared the stage with real dancers.
The festival culminates in a rich tribute to the great Georgian-American choreographer George Balanchine. When he arrived in the US in the early 1930s, he transformed modern ballet. Utilising kinetic pace and athleticism, he reinvented the American neoclassical style. His profound influence will be honoured with three seminal pieces from his repertoire: Serenade (1935), Prodigal Son (1929) and Symphony in C (1947).
“The 2025 edition of Dance Reflections highlights the links between choreographic heritage and contemporary creation.”
– Serge Laurent
Serge Laurent, Van Cleef & Arpels’ Director of Dance and Culture programs, says of the Balanchine tribute: “Weaving together the modern and the contemporary, this historical perspective offers an opportunity to better understand today’s choreographic art and nurture that of tomorrow.”
More information about the 2025 London edition of Dance Reflections HERE.
Author: James Rampton
Leading image: Hagay Dreaming, by Shu Lea Cheang and Dondon Hounwn, which will be performed at Tate Modern 13th-15th March 2025.
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