During the pandemic Sadler’s Wells has been reflecting hard on how we can redouble our efforts to celebrate Black dance talent, and more widely work from Artists of Colour – and continue to bring a real diversity of work to our stages. We will continue to appeal and delight the widest audience, from all communities, as the world resets after the turbulent events of the last two years.

So under our Well Seasoned banner we are highlighting work from international companies and choreographers from Artists of Colour and showing the vigour of our commitment to representing and investing in the vibrant talent across the UK and internationally. As our regular audiences and collaborators know, this has been a strong thread in our work for decades – but now we want to scale up our ambitions. And get your attention.

We are starting 2022 with a bold statement of intent, and we are shining a light on just some of the work we champion in this field. It’s not pretending to be a full survey. It doesn’t cover all bases. It’s evolving as our team build relationships with artists in this field. What we can say is that it is a great way to enjoy brilliant, diverse work – hip hop, ballroom, contemporary dance – and see the connections and contrasts.

The next couple of years are really exciting as we open our venue in Stratford, Sadler’s Wells East, launch the Hip Hop Theatre Academy, and broaden our base of artistic advisors who will bring new programming from non-European traditions. With a midscale venue added to Sadler’s Wells, Peacock Theatre and our Lilian Baylis Studio we will have more opportunities than ever to mix up and strengthen our programming, bringing in an even wider range of artists for our audience to enjoy.

Well Seasoned is another stage on this journey, and a fresh starting point, but our commitment is only getting going. Join us, explore, celebrate, and enjoy.

Sir Alistair Spalding

Artistic Director and Co-Chief Executive, Sadler’s Wells