Ballet Nights Brighton brought an extraordinary evening of live dance to Theatre Royal Brighton, where local dancer Phoebe Dowglass performed alongside international stars in a programme that seamlessly blended classical precision with contemporary edge.
There are evenings you attend as a journalist — notebook in hand, ready to observe and report. And then there are evenings that move beyond observation, offering something more immersive and quietly affecting.
This was one of them. Ballet Nights Brighton.
What is Ballet Nights?
Founded by Jamiel Devernay-Laurence, Ballet Nights is a touring dance platform that reimagines the traditional ballet format.
Rather than presenting a single narrative production, it curates a sequence of works — combining classical repertoire, contemporary choreography, live music and emerging talent within one carefully structured evening.
The result is a format that feels both accessible and ambitious, inviting audiences to experience dance from multiple perspectives in a single sitting.
As part of its 2026 Spring Tour, Ballet Nights visited Manchester, Brighton and Richmond. At Theatre Royal Brighton, the performance carried a sense of occasion — not only as a touring production, but as a meaningful addition to the city’s cultural calendar.
The Programme Ballet Nights Brighton
The evening opened with Quartet Concrète, whose live performance of Intermezzo and Shine No More established an atmospheric introduction rooted in Nordic musical traditions.
.Constance Devernay-Laurence performed I Married Myself, a solo choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon OBE and adapted from the Amazon Prime series Étoile. Presented on stage, the piece gained a new level of immediacy, offering insight into choreography originally created for screen.
Atlas, created and performed by Chrysanthi Nikolaou and Django Bates-Blower, delivered a physically intense duet built on tension, resistance and connection — a study in movement stripped of narrative.
One of the most refined moments of the evening came with String Theory, where dancer Leila Wright and violist Dominic Stokes shared the stage. The piece dissolved the boundary between sound and movement, creating a dialogue between body and instrument that felt both subtle and deeply considered.
Then came Splice.
Performed by Ekleido — Hannah Ekholm and Faye Stoeser — and featuring Brighton’s own Phoebe Dowglass, the work introduced a distinctly contemporary energy. Drawing on voguing, electro and underground dance styles, it shifted the tone of the evening into something more current and experimental.
Phoebe Dowglass’s presence was particularly notable. As a Brighton-based dancer performing within a national touring platform, her role signalled something important — a connection between local talent and the wider international dance landscape.
BlacBrik’s Death of the Bachelors, performed by Nahum McLean and Darius Drooh, brought a strong theatrical dimension, exploring themes of human connection through rhythm, musicality and restraint.
The second half continued to build on contrast and momentum.
Guy Salim’s Temperature was dynamic and commanding, characterised by precision and physical intensity. AE, performed by Isabelle Evans and Travis Clausen-Knight, offered a quieter, more introspective counterpoint — a duet shaped by atmosphere, control and visual detail.
The evening concluded with the World Stars segment, featuring Guest Principal Denys Cherevychko alongside Alina Cojocaru OBE.
Their performance brought a sense of scale and refinement that anchored the entire programme — a reminder of the enduring power of classical technique at the highest level.
A City Connection
Beyond its international line-up, Ballet Nights Brighton carried a strong sense of local relevance.
The inclusion of Phoebe Dowglass within the programme highlighted the presence of Brighton-based artists on a wider stage, reinforcing the city’s connection to contemporary dance culture.
Moments like this extend beyond performance — they shape how a city sees its own creative identity.
Brighton Needs More of This
Ballet Nights is not a niche event reserved for dedicated ballet audiences.
Its format — varied, well-paced and thoughtfully curated — makes it accessible without compromising artistic quality.
For Brighton, a city with an established appetite for culture, events of this calibre feel not only appropriate but necessary.
Theatre Royal Brighton provides a fitting setting. The audience is there.
The question is whether productions like Ballet Nights will continue to return.
If they do, they will find an audience ready to engage.
Ballet Nights UK Tour 2026 visited Theatre Royal Brighton as part of a three-city spring tour. The next Ballet Nights event, Convergence, takes place at Cadogan Hall, London, on 29 April 2026. https://www.balletnights.com/
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