2026 Programme

Solitaire

First premiered in 1956 by Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet, Solitaire is a ballet that contrasts scenes of loneliness and friendship, woven together by Malcolm Arnold’s intricate score Eight English Dancers (Opp. 27 and 33). The work, subtitled A kind of game for one, follows a solitary female, ‘The Girl’. We see her search for companionship played out in a dreamscape. The line between reality and imagination becomes ever more blurred as she finds herself alone, time and time again. Although MacMillan is known for his full-length narrative works, and his challenging of the themes of classical ballet, Solitaire in one act provides an early example of his non-narrative but already expressive style.

REPLICA

A series of mirrored realities played out through abstract storytelling. REPLICA is a physicalised exploration on perception, the external world versus internal thought, on truth and illusion.

“We first started with the idea of exploring mirrored realities and looking at how we can represent an internal and external world through movement. In particular, we focused on sympathetic mirroring, which is when multiple events happen simultaneously and symmetrically in different parts of reality. Next, we looked at exact likeness, where two things are mirror images of each other, and also reversed reflections, where a literal mirror reflects an image backwards.

This creative process has incorporated a mixture of task-based movement and choreographed movement that reflects Jona Dance’s fusion with diasporic rhythms, plus contributions from the dancers themselves. Created to an original score by Phillip Feeney, REPLICA is rhythmical, nuanced, abstract and a reflection of our creative voices all in one.”