Vicariously thrilled for you!

Wahoo, go go go go Judith! Star you are!

Ravel: small is beautiful On Friday 7 March Radio 3 are dedicating the entire day to music by the French composer. Sanjoy Roy explains why, for him, Ravel is a truly great artist, and, below, picks his five favourite works of ...

2/2 And here is my general adulation of the wonder and marvel of Ravel's music:
www.theguardian.com/music/musicb...

Getting to the heart of Ravel's opera double bill L'Heure espagnole and l'Enfant et les Sortilèges are poles apart, but, writes Sanjoy Roy, what Ravel's operas both have at their heart is a lost parent

1/2 In honour of the birth of Maurice Ravel, 8 March 1875, I am reposting two Ravel texts that I was DELIGHTED to have been able to write. The first on his two operas, the second on his particular genius, imo.
www.theguardian.com/music/2012/a...

Ballet Black at 25 review – dazzling double bill brings forth resistance and hope For its quarter of a century celebrations, the company combines an eloquent new dance that speaks of idealism with a revival of its punchy social drama

This was a bracing and heartening evening for me, marking 25th anniversary of the indomitable Ballet Black. www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/m...

I will also be compering an evening of choreography and dance by seniors and very seniors on Saturday 7 March at The Place. In the presence of Dame Angela Rippon 🙂
theplace.org.uk/.../spring-2...

‘How incredibly stimulating!’ Retirees on discovering a new world through dance As Angela Rippon’s Let’s Dance campaign aims to get the nation moving this week, older dancers share how they overcame nerves to relish the benefits

Interviews with people who discovered dance classes and performing after retiring from work - how, why and where it has taken them (it transforms lives). Plus, The Science from "Art Cure" author Prof Daisy Fancourt. I hope this speaks to many people.
www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/m...

Under water, in denial: is Europe drowning out the climate crisis? Even as weather extremes worsen, the voices calling for the rolling back of environmental rules have grown louder and more influential

Under water, in denial: is Europe drowning out the climate crisis?

‘They pushed so many lies about recycling’: the fight to stop big oil pumping billions more into plastics Plastic production has doubled over the last 20 years – and will likely double again. For author Beth Gardiner, metal water bottles and canvas tote bags are not the solution. So what is?

‘They pushed so many lies about recycling’: the fight to stop big oil pumping billions more into plastics

Pierrot Lunaire review – Royal Ballet reaches for the moon with a creepy dance of desire Glen Tetley’s landmark 1962 ballet, set to Schoenberg’s atonal score, is a stark, strange and psychologically charged drama

I was weirded out.
www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/f...

Last day for Springback Academy applications! Apply for our annual mentored dance writing programme for people resident in Europe (EU and non-EU), taking place at Aerowaves’ Spring Forward festival, this year in Portugal. Details: springback.org/news/springb...

Country diary: Once a plain old field, now a thriving forest garden | Anita Roy Wellington, Somerset: The five years we’ve spent transforming this patch has been recognised with an RHS award. We’re proud, but we’re not done yet

Shoutout to my sister (+ fellow Guardian writer) and all at Transition Town Wellington for winning the first RHS sustainable gardening award. They started from 0 five years ago. Huge achievement, transformation of the local environment, and a real inspiration! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Mediating art and life: Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes ⋆ Articles ⋆ Sanjoy Roy Programme notes for the 2021 Hong Kong Arts Festival streaming, on the influence of the movies on Matthew Bourne’s work, especially The Red Shoes

Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes is touring and at Sadler's Wells in December, so am reposting this article from 2021 on cinema and dance and dance and Bourne.... enjoy.
sanjoyroy.net/2021/02/medi...

Springback Assembly 2025 | spreading the word around dance Springback Assembly 2025 at Lyon Dance Biennale, France

Springback Assembly @ Lyon Dance Biennale, mainly its new Forum: dialogues beyond Europe partic with Indigenous peoples (AUS, BR, MZ, TW, USA). Written outcomes in wide range of voices: lyrical, analytical, critical, personal, even fictional. springback.org/assembly/2025

Courtney May Robertson has been great in own and Jan Martens’ work but HUNTER at Southbank was disappointing - esp as its themes (horror, doppelgänger) push my buttons. But felt like lots of effects, not much substance. Sorry!

*Chakrabortty

The Zohran Mamdani method can work beyond New York. Take the fight to the right | Aditya Chakrabortty For too long, the centre has been adopting the language of the right but deploying it with greater civility – to disastrous ends, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

Backing Aditya Chaktarbortty too: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Just delighted about Mamdani’s win. Anxious about how things will play out but let that not spoil today in any way. Today is for breathing fresh air and seeing a horizon of possibility.
(See also: Zack Polanski).
Usually I avoid posting politics on antisocial media, but this was too good.

Springback | spreading the word around dance Springback is a project of Aerowaves Europe that cultivates a growing community of dance writers, journalists and communicators.

My biggest 2025 project has been quietly soft-launched, namely: ex-springbackmagazine.com is now springback.org - showing not just the magazine but the Springback project's range of activities. I did the entire site design, rebuild + content transfer (900+page) myself. Massive learning curve!)

Springback Academy 2026 – Open Call | Springback News Springback Academy 2026 will take place at Aerowaves’ Spring Forward festival in Guimarães, Portugal Arrival: 5 MayAcademy: 6–9 MayDeparture: 10 May After Umeå, Barcelona, Pilsen, Aarhus, Sofia, Paris...

Open call for Springback Academy, our annual intensive workshop for up and coming dance writers based in Europe, is OPEN. Apply by 30 November 2025. Details here:
springback.org/news/springb...

Rinse by Amrita Hepi & Mish Grigor was fresh, funny, far-reaching AND thought-provoking. Recommend! It’s on at Nottdance on 18 Oct and Transform Leeds, 21 Oct.

Well this was a fascinating and somewhat hopeful listen, especially on the day that Badenoch again gets it wrong about cheap vs clean energies.

‘Undertainment’, the new-look lambada and a grungy chorus line: bold dance at Lyon Biennale The festival delivers a fantastic new work by William Forsythe, pure class from François Chaignaud and a Jan Martens revival that exasperates and enlivens

Looking back at the Lyon Biennale de Danse 2025

www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/o...

Here’s me on returning to classes at The Place London, only about 40 yrs after I first went to the evening school there. www.instagram.com/reel/DO_ZdLs...

A Single Man review – homoerotic tennis enlivens ballet version of Isherwood’s classic Riven in two by grief – with musician John Grant playing the mind and former Royal Ballet principal Ed Watson the body – lead character George takes a finely danced journey back toward life’s flow in ...

Like many others, I had lots of mixed feelings about Jonathan Watkins’ A Single Man.
www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/j...

Note from the editor: the series is Critical Distances, not Crossing Currents. 😉

And the last one will be by the 1 n only Kaliane Bradley… coming soon

And the second is by Dom Czapski, on writing about a field in which you also work (love this cover image btw): www.mobiusindustries.com/news/critica...

The first in the series is by me, on navigating cross currents between editorial and finance: www.mobiusindustries.com/news/critica...

East is East, West is West? The question runs through Europe too. Here is the third in the Critical Distance series, copublished with @mobiustheatre.bsky.social , and Springback Magazine writers. 👇🏽