4 h. ago Misty Copeland will take to the ballet stage one last time, before hanging up her pointe shoes

Misty Copeland is taking one last passionate spin on the ballet stage before saying goodbye

Politics

56 h. ago La Fille mal gardée at the Royal Ballet review: a real live pony on stage? Five stars!

This 1960s ballet from Frederick Ashton is endearingly bucolic

Politics

6 d. ago ‘A collaboration of the senses’: Royal Ballet teams up with blind artist for new show

Exclusive: using immersive descriptive audio, performance explores how blindness can redefine experience of danceThe Royal Ballet has long offered headphones with audio descriptions so that visually impaired members of the audience can follow the action on stage. Now the entire audience will hear such descriptions, within a groundbreaking work that explores how blindness can redefine our responses to sensation, sound and storytelling.Devon Healey, a blind artist, is collaborating with Sir Wayne McGregor, among other choreographers, and the composer Max Richter in creating a new Royal Ballet commission that will be premiered on 12 November, World Ballet Day, it will be announced on Thursday. Continue reading...

Culture

7 d. ago Cumulative social advantage: is this the secret to a long, happy, healthy life?

High income levels are associated with slower ageing – but so is another factor that will cost you nothing at all. It just involves plenty of time spent hanging out with family, friends and neighbours ...Name: Cumulative social advantage.Age: If it exists, it’s always been there. Continue reading...

Society

8 d. ago ‘Under 5ft 5in? Forget about being a prince!’ How the Royal Ballet is kicking out the old rules

What will the ballet dancer of the future look like? We visit the hunting lodge where the next generation are being trained – and find huge changes are under wayIt’s an idyllic autumn day in leafy Richmond Park, London, where a grand Georgian hunting lodge houses the Royal Ballet school. Enter through the classical columns and it feels like a bubble away from the world. “I was on a video call with my son,” says the school’s artistic director, Iain Mackay. “He said, ‘Where are you? Hogwarts?!’” This is indeed a place of magic for children who come here, hoping to follow in the footsteps of generations of leading dancers. They touch the middle finger of Margot Fonteyn’s statue for luck as they pass, the bronze rubbed shiny by their superstition.Getting a place at the school, founded in 1926 by the formidable Ninette de Valois, is a huge achievement. Two years ago, 40 students were accepted from more than 1,000 applications (all on merit – 90% are supported by bursaries). Mackay, 45, a...

Politics

8 d. ago ‘Under 5ft 5in? Forget about being a prince!’ How the Royal Ballet school is kicking out the old rules

What will the ballet dancer of the future look like? We visit the hunting lodge where the next generation are being trained – and find huge changes are under wayIt’s an idyllic autumn day in leafy Richmond Park, London, where a grand Georgian hunting lodge houses the Royal Ballet school. Enter through the classical columns and it feels like a bubble away from the world. “I was on a video call with my son,” says the school’s artistic director, Iain Mackay. “He said, ‘Where are you? Hogwarts?!’” This is indeed a place of magic for children who come here, hoping to follow in the footsteps of generations of leading dancers. They touch the middle finger of Margot Fonteyn’s statue for luck as they pass, the bronze rubbed shiny by their superstition.Getting a place at the school, founded in 1926 by the formidable Ninette de Valois, is a huge achievement. Two years ago, 40 students were accepted from more than 1,000 applications (all on merit – 90% are supported by bursaries). Mackay, 45, a...

Politics

9 d. ago Popular Stockport shop loved by footballers and actors to close after 36 years

'It’s time to hang up our piping bags'

Culture

2 w. ago Pupils fume over school 'ePass' that only lets them use the toilet seven times a week

The new system was put in place this school year due to concerns about the excessive numbers of students hanging around in hallways during class time, according to one member of staff

Politics

2 w. ago If it’s autumn, it must be bloody mary season | Hannah Crosbie on drinks

One alternative to Sober October is to sip away slowly at the classic hangover cure, the bloody mary, before the Christmas onslaught begins‘When we drink alcohol, we are borrowing happiness from tomorrow” has always felt a particularly comforting quote whenever I’m on the horns of an especially awful hangover. It is also one that, until a shamefully short time ago, I attributed to Albert Einstein, because it turns out it’s apparently enough for me just to see a quote in cursive text overlaying a black-and-white photo of a famous person for me to believe it was said by them. Deeply embarrassing. I’ve also seen it recounted by James Corden, so who knows at this point? Einstein, Corden’s mate Jez who’s to say?Anyway, now that summer is over, most of us are left feeling that most of the year’s drinking is safely out of the way. Autumn is the hangover of the calendar year. Spring is the pre-drinks, summer the big blow-out and winter is the enormous, restorative takeaway. And when I think...

Events

3 w. ago Craig Silvey: ‘Boys want to feel as though their experiences and inner world are validated and important’

The acclaimed Jasper Jones author on raising three young daughters, identities forged in country life, and how literature can combat toxic masculinityGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailIt’s a blustery morning at Fremantle’s Booyembara Park. Rain hammers down in sideways sheets, and the horizon is a blurred smudge of green and grey. Hardly ideal conditions to interview author Craig Silvey; we can barely hear each other over the downpour. “Lovely day for a walk!” Silvey shouts from beneath his polka-dot umbrella. He points to his sodden shoes with a grin. “I’m squelching. Should’ve worn some gumboots we’re like Shackleton out here,” he laughs.On sunnier days at “Boo Park”, as Silvey calls it, the 43-year-old and his partner, Clare Testoni, stroll the lake with their four-month-old twins, Hazel and Stella, while their three-year-old daughter, Matilda, hoons around on her push-bike. Continue reading...

Politics