There’s nothing so thrilling as being in the room where it happens. Especially when ‘it’ is a brand-new piece of dance, taking shape before your eyes.

I was lucky enough to duck into a studio at the RAD in London last month, where Andrew McNicol, the commissioned choreographer for The Fonteyn, was working on one of his two original solos with lucky young dancers in the RAD’s flagship ballet competition. It was lovely to watch him share the work while also encouraging each dancer to make their own interpretative choices. ‘All the information you need is in the music,’ he said – and even at this early stage you could see dancers taking that prompt and finding their own paths.

There’s nothing so thrilling as being in the room where it happens. Especially when ‘it’ is a brand-new piece of dance, taking shape before your eyes.

I was lucky enough to duck into a studio at the RAD in London last month, where Andrew McNicol, the commissioned choreographer for The Fonteyn, was working on one of his two original solos with lucky young dancers in the RAD’s flagship ballet competition. It was lovely to watch him share the work while also encouraging each dancer to make their own interpretative choices. ‘All the information you need is in the music,’ he said – and even at this early stage you could see dancers taking that prompt and finding their own paths.

You can see a snatch of Andrew’s solo on the cover of your new Dance Gazette, performed by gold medallist Antonia Maria Cramb. Inside, we speak to Andrew and some of the international dancers in The Fonteyn, while the issue also roams across the dance landscape.

We celebrate the extraordinary sacrifices and support of ballet parents, and the horizon-expanding work dance artists are doing in prisons. We explore ballet heritage: marking the centenary of genius designer Léon Bakst, and the way Benesh notation can keep ballets alive. And in an illuminating piece, the writer and ballet parent Alia Waheed asks why more Muslim students don’t take ballet classes.

I really hope you enjoy the issue – do let me know what you think.

David Jays
Editor