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Half Life VR

Royal Swedish Ballet’s performance of Sharon Eyal’s dance work Half Life, which was captured using Virtual Reality (VR), has been nominated for two awards - one at the Venice International Film Festival, which starts August 29, and another at the Biennale de Lyon. Watching Half Life VR through VR glasses the audience gets to see the 13 dancers from 60 different vantage points. The work, created in collaboration with Robert & Robert Studios, is the Royal Swedish Opera's first purely digital  creation.

Belly of the Whale

Ockham’s Razor unique Belly of the Whale is the company's first production created specifically for the outdoors and involves a giant half-circular see-saw structure.Running for 45 minutes, it's great entertainment for all ages and can be seen for FREE this summer at Millfield Theatre on 16 August, Lift Off! Salisbury on 26 & 27 August, Bell Square, Watermans on 8 September and Out There, Great Yarmouth, on 15 & 16 September.

BRB's Fille

Birmingham Royal Ballet will be opening the season with Ashton's Fille mal gardée at the Birmingham Hippodrome from 26 - 29 September. More info HERE.

Genée in Hong Kong

Congratulations to the winners of this year's Genée in Hong Kong:

GOLD MEDAL Monet Hewitt, aged 16, New Zealander, 
trained by Joye Lowe at Philippa Campbell School of Ballet

GOLD MEDAL Joshua Green, aged 17, Australian, 
trained by Karen Ireland at Karen Ireland Dance Centre

SILVER MEDAL Caitlin Garlick, aged 15, Australian, 
trained by Karen Ireland at Karen Ireland Dance Centre

SILVER MEDAL Basil James, aged 16, British, 
trained by Faculty of Tring Park School

BRONZE MEDAL Enoka Sato, aged 16, Japanese, 
trained by Annette Roselli at Annette Roselli Dance Academy

BRONZE MEDAL Jordan Yeuk Hay Chan, aged 16, British (Hong Kong),
trained by Yui Man Cheung at Jean M Wong School of Ballet

Jordan Yeuk Hay Chan was also presented with the Margot Fonteyn Audience Choice Award, and the Choreographic Award for best Dancer’s Own variation was awarded to Joshua Green.

Nureyev

A new documentary tracing the extraordinary life of Rudolf Nureyev and including never-seen-before footage will be in cinemas in the UK from 25 September. Made with the support of The Nureyev Foundation,the film is directed by Jacqui and David Morris and narrated by Dame Siân Phillips. Other contributors include Nureyev’s contemporaries from the dance world, Alla Osipenko, Ghislaine Thesmar and Dame Antoinette Sibley and Nureyev’s personal friends Tamara Zakrzhevskaya, Leonid Romankov and Liuba Myasnikova. Previews from 21 September at the Curzon Mayfair. For more info, check nureyevthefilm.com

Carmen La Cubana

Drawing on the Broadway hit Carmen Jones and set to an arrangement of Bizet's Carmen spliced with salsa, mambo, rumba and ha-cha-cha music, the UK premiere of Carmen La Cubana is directed by Christopher Renshaw. The cast includes Luna Manzanares Nardo as Carmen, Albita Rodríguez as La Señora; Rachel Pastor Pérez as Paquita, Laritza Pulido García as Coqui and Joaquín Garcia Medjias as Niño. The musical is at Sadler's Wells from 1 - 18 August.

Martha Graham Dance Company

To open the season, the Paris Opera is presenting guest performances by the Martha Graham Dance Company, after an absence of 27 years, at the Palais Garnier  from 3 – 8 September. The programme comprises Cave of the Heart, Appalachian Spring and The Rite of Spring. Additionally, Janet Eilber, director of the visiting company, has invited Paris Opera director Aurélie Dupont to participate in the programme. Dupont will be performing in Ekstasis, a piece revisited by Virginie Mécène last year after the original created by Graham in 1933.

NEW ENGLISH BALLET THEATRE

New English Ballet Theatre will be touring its new double bill to Shrewbury, Grays, London and Birmingham from 18 September to 1 October. The programme comprises Wayne Eagling's new ballet, Remembrance, set to Handel's Ode to St Cecilia's Day and Jenna Lee's The Four Seasons set to Vivaldi's famous score, recomposed by Max Richter. A special gala performance on the company's first night at London's Peacock Theatre will be accompanied by The English Concert orchestra and feature guest artists. The proceeds from the evening, which also includes a reception, will support both NEBT and The Royal British Legion. TICKETS

LEST WE FORGET

English National Ballet is reviving its Lest We Forget programme at Sadler's Wells from 20 - 29 September. Originated premiered in 2015, the bill comprises Akram Khan's Dust, Liam Scalett's No Man's Landand Russell Maliphant's Second Breath. More INFO.

DANCE UMBRELLA

Dance Umbrella, London's contemporary dance festival, runs from 26 September - 21 October at various venues. One piece that promises to "seduce the imagination with scenes of birth, death, destruction and reconstruction" is Dimitris Papaioannou's The Great Tamer which is at Sadler's Wells on 16 & 17 October.

MACMILLAN'S MANON

English National Ballet will be touring MacMillan's Manon this autumn, opening at Manchester Opera House from 17 - 20 October. The company will then perform the ballet inMilton Keynes and Southampton before concluding the run at the London Coliseum from 16 - 20 January. For more info, visit ballet.org.uk/manon