Sadler's Wells Sampled 2020

Whether you love dance and want to immerse yourself in a full-on weekend; or don’t really know much about dance but would like to dip a toe in the water, or whether you just want another chance to see one of your favourite acts of the past year or so, Sadler’s Wells Sampled is definitely for you.

A weekend crammed with on-stage and foyer events, Sadler’s Wells Sampled is an annual event that has been going from strength to strength since it began in 2007.

The line-up for the coming festival is nothing if not varied. Apart from the usual array of foyer activities and DJs, the participants range from circus to contemporary dance, and include South Asian dance, hip-hop and Argentine tango.

Québécois company Machine de Cirque makes its Sadler’s Wells debut with two shows that blend spectacular circus and live music.

World Tango Champions Ezequiel Lopez and Camila Alegre bring us a taste of Argentine tango with all the glamour and pizzazz that characterises London audience favourite German Cornejo’s tango company, of which they are a part.

Hip-hop and street dance are represented by French popping company Géométrie Variable, and BBC Young Dancer winner, Max Revel, who will perform a specially devised solo.

If South Asian dance is your thing, Sadler’s Wells Sampled offers you a chance to see another participant in the most recent BBC Young Dancer competition, Shree Savani, finalist in the South Asian Dance category, who will dance a Bharatanatyam solo, Devi.

The Olivier Award-winning choreographer Botis Seva’s company Far From the Norm, will perform an extract of his genre-defying work, BLKDOG. The basis of Seva’s choreography is hip-hop, but in BLKDOG he is experimenting with pushing the genre’s border to try for a fresher language, capable of telling a story, rather than just communicating a mood.

Sadler’s Wells associate artist Wayne McGregor’s company will dance extracts from a piece that the in-demand choreographer premiered at the LA Music Centre in July, Living Archive – London’s first opportunity to see this work.

Of course, the festival includes a plethora of workshops and participatory events. Front-of-house activities are free, and there are cheap, Proms-style standing tickets for all on-stage performances.

Workshops are £5 per person and are for participants aged 16 +. They can be booked by phone on 020 7863 8000.