Rambert celebrates 100 years in Newcastle and Salford
- Robert Beale
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Rambert, the UK’s leading contemporary dance company, brings its centenary programme This Is Rambert to Salford’s Lowry in July (7-9) as part of a UK tour that also visits Newcastle (this week, June 16-17) and international dates.
Despite the noise from Manchester's Aviva Studios about its visit from Rambert with It’s A Sin next February, this will be the first local chance to see the company's new work for some time.
The show is a triple-bill of work featuring Hop(e)storm by (LA)HORDE, Gallery of Consequence by Emma Evelein, and In Crimson, a new collaboration with Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber, reimagining the duo’s acclaimed work Fugue in Crimson from 2022.
Far from being a retrospective, the show looks forward. Artistic director Benoit Swan Pouffer's chosen programme is a snapshot of our times, spotlighting choreographic voices he believes are poised to define the next era of dance.
He said: “For me, the most exciting thing about this moment is that Rambert has never felt more alive. A hundred years in, we’re still led by curiosity and by artists who see the world differently.
"The choreographers in This is Rambert each bring a pulse that belongs to right now, and our dancers respond with everything they are. That’s what this company has always been about: catching the rhythm of the future before it arrives and inviting audiences to be part of that.”
Hop(e)storm, from last year, reimagines dance as a catalyst of resistance, rhythm and resilience, fusing the swing of Lindy Hop with the intensity of contemporary rave culture in a physical response to power, equality, and connection. Stripped back and explosive, it's a tribute to dance as collective action and a call to "reclaim space, freedom and identity".
Gallery of Consequence, also from 2025, turns the liminal space of an airport (between air travel and the world outside) into a metaphor for the choices that define us. Every gate becomes a sliding door, every movement a ripple of consequence, set against a visceral soundscape and striking visual design.
Rambert is also hosting special events in Salford to bring people closer to the company’s artists and its next century, with drinks receptions, exclusive glimpses into Rambert’s future, and the chance to meet the artists behind the work.
