The comeback kid of British ballet. Initially sure-footed, the company spent years teetering precariously in different directions, but after hitting rock bottom it was whipped back into shape. Now it’s a kickass outfit.
Birmingham Royal Ballet is like a moon that became a planet: after decades of wobbly orbiting around the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, it finally broke free and became its own centre of gravity.
Sophisticated, complex and nuanced, Siobhan Davies’s work is a taste to be savoured. Some prefer the stimulus of more immediate, recognisable flavours, but her subtly sensual choreography seeps into your pores.
American Ballet Theatre is the Hollywood of the ballet world. A cultural powerhouse with commercial imperatives, it is both image- and audience-conscious, and (in a list that reads like the ballet walk of fame) attracts the biggest stars in the business.
Hard-working and plain-speaking, this indomitable troupe may not be as posh as the larger, well-heeled ballet companies that hog the limelight, but their trademark story ballets have attracted a devoted following.
Blokes being ballerinas. That’s the USP of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, but their shows are so much more than that …
Rambert Dance company has had as much talent as it has tribulations. The longest-standing dance company in the country, it has the chequered past of an old dog – but that’s never stopped it from learning new tricks.
Henri Oguike is a leopard who can change his spots. His work is always inspired by music, always sleek and technically accomplished, but his colours and patterns change drastically from piece to piece.
A company of disabled and non-disabled dancers, Candoco was never going to settle for sideshow status: it was main billing or nothing. And now, they’re players on the world stage.
The Royal Ballet is a princess who was once a pauper. Born in lowly circumstances, without the aristocratic heritage of the Mariinsky or the Paris Opera Ballet, she earned her crown with a mix of dazzling work and wilfulness.