Matthew Bourne’s audacious, rule-breaking reinvention of Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece caused a sensation when it premiered almost 30 years ago. It has now become the most successful dance theatre production of all time, creating new audiences and inspiring generations of young dancers. In celebration of that ongoing impact, Swan Lake will take flight once more in a major new revival for the next generation of dancers, and for audiences who will experience it for the very first time.

First staged at Sadler’s Wells in London in 1995, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake took the dance theatre world by storm becoming the longest running full-length dance classic in the West End and on Broadway. It has since been performed across the globe, collecting over thirty international accolades including the Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production and three Tony Awards for Best Director of a Musical, Best Choreography and Best Costume Design.

Running Time: 2 hours 20 minutes (including one 20 minute interval)

Children under five are not allowed to attend this performance and some scenes may not be suitable for young children.

Audio Described Performance: Sat 11 January at 2:30pm
Touch Tour: Sat 11 January at 2:30pm

Drawing from the catalogue of Grammy Award-winning R&B legend D’Angelo, this creative exaltation depicts Black life and love in the USA while serving as a thumping mixtape celebrating culture, family and community. The dancers create an unforgettable party, inviting the audience to view stories of love, solidarity and friendship told with Kyle Abraham’s trademark poetic clarity.

Part of The Rose Prize 2025

Running Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

UK premiere

In CARCAÇA, Marco da Silva Ferreira uses dance as a research tool for community, the construction of collective identity, memory and cultural stagnation. The choreography, which initially starts with jumping footwork as an agitator and accelerator, progressively draws a vibrant, rebellious and carnivalesque body.

The performance suggests we think about the following things:
How do you decide to forget and make memory? What are the roles of individual identities in building a community? What is the driving force behind identity? What world is the individual and collective body going through? Or, rather, what bodies are crossing the world?

Part of The Rose Prize 2025

Running Time: 1 hour 15 minutes (no interval)

* This production contains partial nudity.

Named after the vast Antarctic ice sheet which broke away in 2017, Greek choreographer Christos Papadopoulos’ work explores the universal patterns of change and the monumental shifts occurring around the world.

What lies beneath the tip of an iceberg? A form that is constantly shifting and transforming, dissolving into itself. We could ask this of our own bodies too – how much control do we really have over what lies beneath? Landscapes, bodies and sounds evolve and change, just like the ensemble of dancers.

Part of The Rose Prize 2025

Running Time: 1 hour

UK premiere

The word ‘encantado’ (enchantment) summons up wondrous visions. In Brazil, it also refers to another way of perceiving the world, animated by unknown forces that move between heaven and earth with magical healing powers.

Drawn from Lia Rodrigues’ work in one of the largest favelas (shanty town) in Rio de Janeiro, this visually arresting piece uses over 140 vibrant blankets to clothe the ensemble of dancers and features indigenous Brazilian music to present another possible vision of the world, bringing people together and making magic out of the darkness.

Part of The Rose Prize 2025

Running Time: 1 hour

UK premiere

Meaning “full moon” or “high tide”, Vollmond has a reputation for sending people wild. Be transported to a stark, rocky landscape with glistening pools of water and never-ending rain.

This series of extended solos moves between the cruelty and sadness which torment the dancers and lovers on stage; a trademark of Pina Bausch’s “familiar world of ritualised courtship and conflict” (Guardian).

They run through ankle-deep water, swim across the moat underneath the tall rock, glide, swim and crash against walls and dance wildly in Marion Cito’s flowing dresses, which become completely drenched.

Running Time: 2 hours 19 minutes (including one 20 minute interval)

Audio Described Performance: Tue 18 February at 7:30pm
Touch Tour: Tue 18 February at 7:30pm

This production contains intermittent loud music and partial nudity.

Since the beginning of time, humankind has had a fascination with the void. From deep sea to deep space, these dark mysterious zones ignite both our imagination and our desire to explore our world to its limits.

In Deepstaria?– a title inspired by an enigmatic species of jellyfish with a stellar-sounding name –?Wayne?McGregor conjures a highly sensory, meditative pure dance and acoustic experience which reflects on our profound relationship with the void and our own mortality.

Running Time: 1 hour 10 minutes (no interval)

UK premiere

Twice-Born?is a groundbreaking Scottish Ballet commission by Olivier-Award-winning choreographer, composer, and world-renowned dancer, Dickson Mbi. Celebrated for blending the physicality of hip-hop with the fluidity of contemporary dance, Mbi has made waves across the globe. Mbi was last seen at Sadler’s Wells in 2022 with his dynamic solo, Enowate.

Mbi has created an epic parable set in a timeless mythical world where matriarchal figures are sacrificed and reborn. The large ensemble of dancers moves with breathtaking synchronicity, an intense, awe-inspiring visual and aural spectacle that will leave you spellbound.

Running Time: 1 hour 40 minutes (including one 20 minute interval)

Audio Described Performance: Sat 8 March at 2:30pm
Touch Tour: Sat 8 March at 2:30pm

This performance contains strobe lighting, flashing lights, haze and loud music.

A vanguard of post-modern dance, Trisha Brown’s ground-breaking work forever changed the landscape of contemporary performance. Trisha Brown Dance Company continues to expand its creative vision with its second ever commission, In the Fall, a new work by French choreographer Noé Soulier.

This piece is presented alongside one of Trisha Brown’s iconic creations, Working Title (1985) which highlights her ability to push the limits of the dancers’ athleticism and stamina. Elevating abstract dance to theatrical proportions, Trisha Brown’s timeless works solidify her place as one of the most influential choreographers of her time.

Part of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival

Running Time: 1 hour 10 minutes (including one 20 min interval)

UK premiere

Tigerslane Studios, renowned for its captivating true-crime productions, is thrilled to announce the launch of the new season of ‘Murder Trial Tonight – The Doorstep Case.’ A West-End production touring the UK & Ireland with glowing 5-star reviews.

This unique theatrical experience brings true-crime stories to life. In the third season, a mother returns home in the early hours of the morning after a night out celebrating her birthday, only to find her daughter murdered on her doorstep. The boyfriend of the daughter has been charged with the murder. Is he guilty, or is the killer still at large?

The story begins on screen, giving the audience the backdrop and opening to the true-crime story. Then, the action moves to the stage for a live murder trial, immersing the audience in a fast-paced courtroom experience. As members of the jury, the audience plays a crucial role in this thrilling murder mystery. Both the prosecution and defence present their cases, cross-examine witnesses, and at the end of the show, the audience deliberates and delivers their verdict: guilty or not guilty.

Running Time: 2 hours 50 minutes (including one 20 minute interval)

Recommended for ages 14+

This production contains haze.

This event is not part of the Sadler’s Wells? season, but is an independent hire. Therefore, some discounts do not apply.

Merce Cunningham’s work explores the ideas of transfiguration. BIPED references that humans are two footed creatures. The choreography focusses on movement restricted to motion supported by the feet. Working with two dancers, he choreographed 70 phrases that were transposed into digital images. A combination of solos, duets, trios, and ensemble dances are performed live alongside these projections and digital artwork. The stage is veiled with a front cloth onto which ethereal images of the human form are transformed into abstract shapes and figures. Created in 1999 just after Cunningham’s 80th birthday, BIPED features music by Gavin Bryars.

His 1991 Beach Birds is the result of his long, fruitful partnership with composer John Cage. In Cunningham’s words Beach Birds “is all based on individual physical phrasing. The dancers don’t have to be exactly together. They can dance like a flock of birds, when they suddenly take off.” A work for eleven dancers, the rhythm for Beach Birds was much more fluid than other Cunningham dances, so that the sections could differ in length from performance to performance.

Part of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival

Running Time: 1 hour 40 mins (including one 20 min interval)

UK premiere

20 dancers of the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève share the stage with four extreme sport athletes. Rachid Ouramdane uses minimalistic movement perched perilously in the air.

Dancers and athletes move effortlessly between a criss-crossing web of high wires and slack lines, delving into the connections between extreme sport and dance. Outsider is set to composer Julius Eastman’s hypnotic music, played on four pianos.

Last at Sadler’s Wells with his sell-out Corps extrêmes in 2023, Ouramdane once again takes us to new heights.

Part of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival

Running Time: 65 minutes (no interval)

Recommended for ages 8+

UK premiere

In 2022, William Forsythe’s Playlist (EP) brought the house down.

Following an acclaimed run, the exhilarating piece is back to bring pure happiness into our lives!?Combining ballet classicism and athleticism with the music of Barry White, Natalie Cole, Khalid and more, it will leave you “tipsy with delight” (Financial Times) and “cheering and breathless with joy” (The Observer). What’s not to like?

English National Ballet will also perform Herman Schmerman (Quintet), a classic showcase of Forsythe’s signature style not seen in the UK for nearly 30 years. Created for five dancers, the most intricate steps appear to spring naturally out of the performers, who relish the challenge of surprising the audience, and each other, at every turn. The electronic music soundtrack is by Thom Willems, a long time collaborator of Forsythe’s.

Completing this evening of Forsythe’s work will be a world premiere from the master choreographer. More details to be announced.

Running Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes (no interval)

World premiere of Rearray

Part fictional, part biographical; all elements overlap. The line between what is myth and what is reality blurs. This new show will follow the story of Oona Doherty’s Great Great Grandfather Specky Clark and his arrival in Belfast. It unravels as a series of theatrical images and is brought to life by an international cast of nine dancers.

On Oona’s father’s side there is a history of working in Belfast’s abattoir and of owning pigs in the back garden tracing back to the 1940’s. Along with a long history in the docks. On the other hand, her mother’s family owned a butcher’s shop in Belfast. For Oona there is something in the meat of her. There is a pink fleshy vulnerability. There is a violence.

Specky Clark features music composed by Maxime Fraisse which combines new and existing scores from Irish band Lankum. Irish playwright Enda Walsh is dramaturg, Sabine Dargent is scenographer, and long-time collaborator John Gunning is lighting designer.

Running Time: 1 hour (no interval)

This production contains gun shot sounds, simulated shooting of a fake pig made from latex, smoke and theatrical haze.

UK premiere

When Jane accepts a position as Governess at Thornfield Hall, little does she expect a spark to kindle between her and the brooding Mr Rochester. As you watch her fall under his spell, something hides in the shadows, waiting to destroy her happiness.

Experience the unexpected twists and turns of one woman’s life from the humble school room to a towering manor house and the sweeping Yorkshire moors. With heart-stirring choreography and music that captures the essence of her timeless tale, watch Jane’s journey unfold.

With choreography by Cathy Marston, and music played live, Northern Ballet’s brilliant dance actors bring this tale of romance, jealousy and dark secrets to life.

Running Time: 2 hours 5 minutes (including one 20 min interval)

Audio Described Performance: Sat 17 May at 2:30pm
Touch Tour: Sat 17 May at 2:30pm

PASSING by Johan Inger
In PASSING, legendary Swedish choreographer and longtime Ballet BC collaborator Johan Inger traverses a vast landscape of human emotion, taking audiences on an epic, theatrical, often touching ride. Commissioned by Ballet BC in the 2022/23 season and inspired by climate catastrophe, PASSING explores relationships, from the intimate to the societal. Set to an original score by Amos Ben-Tal as well as selections from Erik Enocksson and Louis T. Hardin (aka Moondog), the sonic journey is as beautifully complex and captivating as the movement language throughout.

Frontier by Crystal Pite
Originally created for Nederlands Dans Theater in 2008 and reimagined for Ballet BC, Crystal Pite’s Frontier will take the stage in spring 2025. Featuring 24 dancers, the visionary, enigmatic Frontier examines the unknown—the characterization of dark matter, the personification of shadows. “As a creator, I find a pleasing parallel between what we don’t know about the universe, and what we don’t know about consciousness” says Pite. “Creation for me is about venturing into unknown territory and being in a generative relationship with doubt.”

Running Time: 1 hour 50 minutes (including one 20 minute interval)

Recommended for ages 8+

This production contains sexual content and themes of death and loss.

UK premiere

Inspired by the work of the great English novelist Patrick Hamilton (Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky, Hangover Square)?who created some of the most authentic fiction of his era; stories borne out of years of social interactions with the working man and woman at his favourite location – the London Pub.

Master storyteller Bourne once again joins forces with the Olivier and Tony award-winning team of Terry Davies, Lez Brotherston, Paule Constable and Paul Groothuis, and features fourteen of New Adventures’ finest performers in roles that will challenge and reveal the darker reaches of the human heart.

The Midnight Bell premiered to great acclaim in 2021 and received five nominations at the 2022 National Dance Awards, with Matthew Bourne winning the award for Best Modern Choreography and Michela Meazza for Outstanding Female Modern Performance.

Running Time: 1 hour 50 minutes (including one 20 minute interval)

Recommended for ages 14+

This production contains scenes of a sexual nature, including sexual violence and mental distress, smoking on stage (e-cigarettes), haze and flickering lights (not strobe).

Audio Described Performance: Sat 21 June at 2:30pm
Touch Tour: Sat 21 June at 2:30pm

In 1973, guitar smashing rock genius Pete Townshend wrote Quadrophenia.

Recorded by The Who – it quickly became an iconic and multi-million selling album. Quadrophenia defined a generation and in 1979 inspired the cult classic feature film of the same name.

Now it’s back – this time as an explosive dance production – Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet with a cast of exceptional dancers, introducing new audiences to troubled mod Jimmy’s story while remaining true in spirit to the much-loved original.

Quadrophenia is steeped in the mythology of the 1960s – sharp suits, soul music, vespas and parkas but its themes of lost youth, rebellion, the search for belonging and hunger for social change are just as urgent today.

Running Time: approximately 2 hours (including one 20 minute interval)

Audio Described Performance: Sat 5 July at 2:00pm
Touch Tour: Sat 5 July at 2:00pm

Recommended for ages 12+

This production includes physical assault (simulated violence), mature sexual themes and drug use.

For the last decade, NYDC, run by Sadler’s Wells, has sought out the most talented young dancers in England to create, perform and tour a new work every year with a Guest Artistic Director.

For 2025, Sky Arts and Olivier Award-winning hip hop dance theatre company Boy Blue, led by Kenrick ‘H20’ Sandy and Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante, has been appointed as Guest Artistic Directors. Join us as they team up with NYDC’s young people to create a brand-new show.

The dancers are all aged between 16 – 24 and work with NYDC over four intensive residencies in the school holidays gaining valuable experience, honing their skills and working with top notch professionals. Since its inception 361 dancers have passed through the company, working with renowned dance artists including Oona Doherty, Wayne McGregor, Alesandra Seutin, Russell Maliphant and Botis Seva.

Running Time: 1 hour

Audio Described Performance: Sat 19 July at 7:30pm

Rambert’s thrilling stage adaptation captures the Peaky Blinders story, with stunning performances from Rambert’s dancers and an iconic soundtrack from a live on-stage band.

Opening in the trenches of Flanders, a personal story unfolds in post-war industrial Birmingham as the Shelby family navigate the decisions that determine their fate. Meanwhile Tommy is intoxicated by mysterious newcomer, Grace.? As Tommy builds his empire, Grace is operating as an undercover agent for Special Branch on a mission to get close to the heart of Tommy’s gang. As the story unfolds, hearts are broken, and revenge is sought. Key points of the story are illuminated by Narrator Benjamin Zephaniah (Jeremiah in the TV series).

Spectacular dramatisation and breath-taking dance is heightened by a live on-stage band performing specially commissioned music by Roman GianArthur and iconic Peaky tracks from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Radiohead, Anna Calvi, The Last Shadow Puppets, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

Running Time: 2 hours 10 minutes (including one 20 minute interval)

BSL interpreted Performance: Thu 7 August at 7:30pm
Audio Described Performance: Sat 9 August at 2:30pm
Touch Tour: Sat 9 August at 2:30pm
Captioned Performances: Thu 14 August at 2:30pm

Recommended for ages 15+
This production contains themes of violence, sex, rape, miscarriage, drug use and suicide.
There will be strobe lighting, live gunshots and pyrotechnics on stage. There will also be some (recorded) loud bangs.

Get ready for the adventure of a lifetime as the West End smash-hit production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe comes to Sadler’s Wells.

Join Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter as they meet new friends, face dangerous foes and learn the lessons of courage, sacrifice, and the power of love.

Watch the nation’s favourite novel The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe come to life on stage in this spectacular production which is guaranteed to delight all ages.

Running Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

Audio Described Performance: Sat 23 August at 2:00pm
Touch Tour: Sat 23 August at 2:00pm
Captioned Performance: Sat 30 August at 2:00pm

Recommended for ages 7+