Slideshow: Best of 2010 in Ballet

It was a rollercoaster of a year for us. Topics like Black Swan, Jennifer Homans’s Apollo’s Angels and #Sugarplumgate kept us on our toes and led to interesting discussions and exchanges via social media channels.  From an audience perspective we were curious to explore different productions and companies, so we traveled to Copenhagen, Tokyo and Paris in search of new ballets. Back in the UK, in addition to supporting our home company, we also had the chance to reconnect with Birmingham Royal Ballet and Rambert Dance Company and to catch up with blossoming artists like Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev during the Bolshoi’s excellent summer tour.

So while we gear up for a new year in dance – hopefully filled with new work and discoveries – we leave you with our favorite moments of 2010:

(See footer for photo credits and click on each photo to open corresponding full feature)

We also asked our Twitter followers; their 2010 favourites were:

@balletteachers @brb ‘s Cinderella!

@Fleegull Without a doubt, getting to see Osipova/Hallberg dance Don Quixote with ABT.

@ManInSeatD26 Giselle (Cao ENB, Mikhailovsky, Bolshoi Osipova), Concerto (RB, BRB), Carmen, Spartacus (Vasiliev), DQ (6Aug), Sylvia @londonballerina

@mdrivel Seeing RDB for the first time at the beautiful Opera House, mens and women’s programs.

@Robintheoffice I may be biased picking one of our shows, but Jenna Roberts back dancing Juliet in Cardiff after so long off injured was ACE!

@studioincovent my dance highlights @AkramKhanLive ‘s Gnosis (but not Vertical Road!), R. Marquez in R&J at the RB, Trisha Brown @Tate …

@studioincovent not a lot of ballet because I haven’t been to many this year…

@studioincovent Monnier/Ribot @southbankcentre, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Babel, Bausch’s Kontakohf @BarbicanCentre !

@sarahp119 Alston: Light Flooding… Rambert: A Linha Curva. RB: Asphdl Mdws, Carmen, Infra, Inv/Invitam, MacMillan 3Bill, Onegin, R&J, W/Dreams

@sarahp119 That list was alphabetically arranged. Onegin wld be no. 1!

@munaazzawi Easy: Osipova’s Giselle. Unless I’m allowed ‘Osipova in everything’?

@munaazzawi Also: Ed Watson, world’s greatest ever interpreter of MacMillan, immortalised on DVD in Mayerling

@KirstenSalt Saw Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake for the first time – gorgeous – and loved Michael Clark’s come, been and gone at the Barbican.

@bangorballetboy the #RoyalBallet’s Asphodel Meadows (Scarlett) must be near the top of the list!

@clouddancefest My favourites: @BalletBlack @Rambertdance, NDT2, Trocks, @BRB, Pina Bausch http://j.mp/dZeQEI

@annakardar A late reply 2 fav perfs of 2010:by a mile Osipova & Vasiliev Bolshoi London,yay 4 McRae’s Colas,new choreo Asphodel & Invitus

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Did we miss any? Let us know your own favorites via comment below.

Photo Credits: Henrik Stenberg / RDB ©, Bill Cooper / ROH ©, Johan Person / ROH ©, Noriko Kobayashi Ballet Theatre ©, Damir Yusupov / Bolshoi Theatre ©, Dee Conway / ROH ©, Nicola Selby / Rambert Dance Company ©, Agatha Poupeney / POB ©, BRB ©, Natasha Razina / Mariinsky Theatre ©, BRB © & Tristram Kenton / ROH ©

Sources and Further Reading

• The Royal Danish Ballet – reviews of La Sylphide and Symphony in C
• Steven McRae and Roberta Marquez in Romeo and Juliet – our feature on the two principals
• Jonathan Watkins – As One review
• Liam Scarlett – Asphodel Meadows review
• Noriko Kobayashi Ballet Theatre – The Sleeping Beauty review
• Natalia Osipova in London – Coppélia review
• Russian Seasons – Bolshoi in London round-up
• Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg in Onegin – review
• Rambert Dance Company – Making of Awakenings
• Paquita – Ballet reconstructions feature
• Birmingham Royal Ballet – Pointes of View review
• The Little Humpbacked Horse in Paris -  our feature on Alexei Ratmansky
• Birmingham Royal Ballet – Cinderella review
• Steven McRae in Les Patineurs – ballet fact card