An Evening at Sadlers Wells

On Saturday we found ourselves with an evening to ourselves to do as we pleased.  It is a rarity.  Our daughter was attending her friend's birthday party in the afternoon and was invited to stay for a sleepover.  We checked out a few places on the internet to see where we could get tickets for some jazz, but unfortunately it was all sold out so my OH ventured onto Sadlers' Wells website and found a show that was on that was made up of various different dance companies all performing their various pieces in the one show.  It sounded interesting, but when he tried to buy some tickets online they had all sold out too.

Anyway, he decided to give them a call and fortunately a couple of tickets had been returned so we were able to go after all.  We have been to Sadlers' Wells a few times for various dance shows but have always been to their Peacock Theatre venue in Holborn.  This performance however was at Sadlers Wells, Islington to which I'd never been before which was exciting.

I had to drag myself away from a very good tennis match between David Ferrer and Alexandr Dolgopolov which was disappointing as I'd been waiting to watch the latter all week.  It is so rare that we get the chance to go out alone though that we don't like to waste the opportunity.  (I did check the scores on OH's phone during the interval and was sad to hear he had lost in a five set match.  I'll just have to watch him next year now.)

Anyway, our seats for the dance were great, with a fabulous view.  They were right in the centre front of the stalls.  The dance artists were an interesting mix of contemporary, ballet, breakdance and tango.  I have to admit that the Tango dancers from Argentina were my absolute favourite, followed closely by the National Youth Dance Company which was made up of young dancers aged 16-18 from all over the country and who performed a really fabulous piece.

We have seen some really great shows at Sadlers' Wells in the last couple of years and the prices of tickets are usually pretty reasonable.  Sometimes we go as a birthday treat or just for a night out en famille.  The show Some Like it Hip Hop was a great hip hop musical and a show called Havana Racatan, by a Cuban dance company was the best I have seen yet.  The speed and skill with which they danced took your breath away.  If you're ever in London, like dance and want to see a show, check out the Sadlers' Wells website.

We enjoyed our evening out, the auditorium was intimate and it's design interesting and we got to do something grown up and cultured which made a very nice change.  Our opportunity came at a very odd time though as our daughter is going away for a few days next week on a school trip and we will have a few nights where we can go out and please ourselves.   It's a bit like buses.  Wait ages for one and then three turn up.  We're looking forward to it, but will miss her whilst she's away.  We saw her off on the bus this morning and already the house seems very quiet and she wouldn't normally be here at this time.  I'm sure she'll have a fabulous time.  There's more to life than going out all the time though, and nothing beats all being home together as a family.