Nicola Rayner

2 weeks ago | inews.co.uk | Nicola Rayner

“If everyone knew how physically cruel dancing really is, nobody would watch,” said Margot Fonteyn, prima ballerina assoluta of The Royal Ballet. “Only those people who enjoy bull fights.”From The Red Shoes to Black Swan, it is no secret that ballet can be as brutal as it is beautiful. The prevalence of body dysmorphia, eating disorders and perfectionism in dancers has been widely reported, notably, in recent years, in the BBC Panorama investigation: The Dark Side of Ballet Schools.

Mar 9, 2025 | theguardian.com | Nicola Rayner

Dance can be life-changing – it’s a lesson we learn every year on Strictly Come Dancing, but it bears repeating. Last year’s winner, comedian Chris McCausland, the show’s first blind celebrity, defied expectations and changed people’s attitude to his disability, while 80-year-old presenter Angela Rippon demonstrated in 2023 that age is no barrier to dancing.

Feb 13, 2025 | l8r.it | Nicola Rayner |Jane Austen |F. Scott Fitzgerald |Hilary Mantel

The Paris Dancer Synopsis A heart-wrenching and unforgettable story of courage, friendship and resistance, inspired by the incredible true story of a Jewish ballroom dancer in Paris during WWII, perfect for fans of The Paris Library. Paris, 1938. Annie Mayer arrives in France with dreams of becoming a ballerina. But when the war reaches Paris, she's forced to keep her Jewish heritage a secret. Then a fellow dancer offers her a lifeline: a ballroom partnership that gives her a new identity.

Nov 7, 2024 | telegraph.co.uk | Nicola Rayner

The Rite of Spring: Pina Bausch/Germaine Acogny & Malou Airaudo Credit: Maarten Vanden Abeele It’s a case of third time lucky for this long-delayed double-bill, which finally opened at Sadler’s Wells on Wednesday night. The thrilling new staging of The Rite of Spring, Pina Bausch’s groundbreaking 1975 masterpiece, danced by a specially assembled company from 13 African countries, was initially scheduled for spring 2020. It shared the fate of countless other events that Covid-dominated year,...

Oct 2, 2024 | telegraph.co.uk | Nicola Rayner

The National Ballet of Canada in Angels’ Atlas, at Sadler’s Wells Karolina Kuras/National Ballet of Canada National Ballet of Canada’s new triple bill, Frontiers, is headlined by none other than Crystal Pite. One of the three Canadian dancemakers the programme embraces, she is among the most internationally acclaimed choreographers at work today, and the piece of hers on offer here, Angels’ Atlas (2020), proves a spellbinding marriage of creative forces. The action takes place against a...