The West Midlands is one of the UK’s biggest and best dance hubs, with venues hosting everything from classical ballets to snake-hipped Strictly stars strutting their samba stuff. Here’s a selection of productions hot-shoe shuffling their way into the region over the next few weeks...

DIANNE AND VITO: RED HOT & READY

Strictly Come Dancing’s Dianne Buswell and Vito Coppola are heading to the region with a brand-new show this month.

Presented by Burn The Floor, Red Hot & Ready is being described as ‘the ultimate high-voltage dance extravaganza, exploding with jaw-dropping choreography, heart-pounding music and breathtaking moves’.
Vocalists, a live band, and a cast of multi-disciplined Burn The Floor dancers also feature. 

Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Friday 4 July; Crewe Lyceum Theatre, Thursday 10 July  

RHYTHM OF THE DANCE

Audiences are promised an evening of flailing fiddles and cracking choreography when popular touring show Rhythm Of The Dance visits Wolverhampton this month. 

Taking its fans on a high-energy journey through hundreds of years of Irish dance and music, the hit show features award-winning world and Irish dance champions, multiple costume changes, a state-of-the-art light & sound presentation, and performances by talented vocalists and an Irish traditional band of multi-instrumentalist musicians.  

If you’ve not yet checked out the production, now in its 26th year of touring, this month’s Grand Theatre stop-off provides a perfect opportunity to catch up with one of the most popular Irish step dance shows in the world.

Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Sunday 6 July

LINDEN DANCE: CAGED

Innovative contemporary/Afro dance fusion company Linden Dance here present a free drop-in performance of CAGED in their home city of Birmingham. 

The piece, which takes place in the Outdoor Theatre at Midlands Arts Centre, sees four performers explore worlds of entrapment and safety, in, on and around a three-metre-high ‘birdcage’. Expect feats of athleticism and daring physicality, presented against a punchy soundtrack - a creative response to the UK’s loneliness epidemic. 

Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), Birmingham, Sunday 13 July

NATIONAL YOUTH DANCE COMPANY: GRAVITY

England’s flagship youth dance organisation, National Youth Dance Company (NYDC), have joined forces with guest artistic directors (and Olivier Award-winning purveyors of hip-hop dance-theatre) Boy Blue. The result is Gravity - a brand-new show ‘all about forces and connections’, which combines the skills of NYDC’s young dancers with their mentors’ radical vision.

Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Wednesday 23 July

ANTON & GIOVANNI

Two of Strictly Come Dancing’s all-time best-loved professional dancers join forces to present a show that seamlessly blends ‘breathtaking routines’ with ‘stunning choreography’. 
Anton Du Beke has graduated from dancing to judging on Strictly, while Giovanni Pernice’s time on the show came to a controversial conclusion when his 2023 dance partner, Amanda Abbington, went public with criticisms of his coaching methods. 
Giovanni’s ever-adoring fans will no doubt be happy to see him once again teaming up with Anton for this latest dance extravaganza.

Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Thursday 24 July; Victoria hall, Stoke-on-Trent, Friday 25 July;  Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Monday 28 July   

LONDON CITY BALLET: MOMENTUM

The former resident company of Sadler’s Wells, London City Ballet here presents a brand-new repertoire. The programme includes Haieff Divertimento, an early work by master choreographer George Balanchine, which was presumed lost for a period of 40 years following its premiere.

Liam Scarlett ‘s Consolations & Liebestraum - a response to Franz Liszt’s piano score depicting the lifecycle of a relationship - also features, as does a new work by emerging choreographer Florent Melac. 
Alexei Ratmansky’s Pictures At An Exhibition - ‘bringing art to life’, with Modest Mussorgsky’s score set against a backdrop of Wassily Kandinsky’s best-known masterpieces - completes the production’s line-up of danceworks.

Celebrated ballerina Alina Cojocaru lends her talent to proceedings.

The Rep, Birmingham, Tuesday 29 & Wednesday 30 July