RICHARD ALSTON DANCE COMPANY is world-famous for its understanding of the deep magic that music and dance can conjure together, and this season’s programme is as beautiful to listen to as it is stunning to watch. The world premiere Body & Soul, choreographed by Martin Lawrance, dramatises a lover’s anguish to Schumann’s romantic Dichterliebe, while Alston’s Fingerprint is a bright and forthright response to the genius of Bach’s keyboard works. Alston’s new work Lazy River completes the bill: a toe-tapping, knee-jiggling set of Hoagy Carmichael songs which gets the whole company moving. The company performs on Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 March at 8pm, and fans can also book for a free pre-show talk with Richard Alston on Tuesday 11 March.

Heartbeat is an apt name for the new show from YAMATO, the drummers of Japan, who perform on Sunday 6 and Monday 7 April at 7.30pm. The company’s breathtaking display of Japanese Taiko drumming holds delicate beauty and heart-thumping bass power in a captivating balance. An array of acrobatic musicians play several dozen drums, ranging from the size of a dinner plate to the massive Odaiko drum, hewn from a single tree over 400 years old. Enjoyed by over 2 million people around the world, YAMATO is visually spectacular as well as sonically exhilarating: an action-packed and infectious show for all ages.

Twenty years old, DV8 PHYSICAL THEATRE remains impossible to pigeonhole. Its frank but poetic show To Be Straight With You incorporates dance, text, documentary, film and animation in a visionary new exploration of religion and sexuality. Artistic Director Lloyd Newson directs a multi-ethnic cast in this timely study of tolerance and intolerance, based on hundreds of hours of interviews with those directly affected by these issues around the UK. A co-production with the National Theatre and Berliner Festspiele, To Be Straight With You comes to the Playhouse on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 April at 8pm.

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