Hats off to English National Ballet (ENB) for restoring some "festive sparkle" with its brand-new production of "The Nutcracker", said Debra Craine in The Times. Frankly, the previous version was a "dreary, dispiriting affair", despite filling theatres at Christmas for over a decade.

The revamped production is a huge improvement, agreed Lyndsey Winship in The Guardian. Artistic director Aaron S Watkin eschews gimmicks and doesn't attempt to reinterpret Tchaikovsky's ballet too drastically; instead he's collaborated with rising star choreographer, Arielle Smith, and "cracking" designer, Dick Bird, to really "make the stage zing".

Set in Edwardian London with the dome of St Paul's visible in the background, chimney sweeps and suffragettes fill the stage. Here, eccentric toymaker Drosselmeyer runs a sweets emporium ("very 'Willy Wonka'") and is "the person pulling all the strings".

Soon, we're transported to the Stahlbaums' "bougie" family home, said David Jays in London's The Standard. After their Christmas party "little Clara creeps downstairs" and begins dreaming of "magical" characters that reflect her waking world: her aunt is transformed into the Ice Queen, while her mother becomes the Sugar Plum Fairy. The latter is played by Emma Hawes whose footwork is like "delicate piping-bag tracery across the floor". "Time stands still when she appears."

"Fun, cohesive and astoundingly pretty", ENB's new production delivers "Quality Street levels of moreish pleasure". One of the few "misjudgments" is the decision to make Drosselmeyer "positively creepy", and in the midst of the cost-of-living crisis you might "wince" at the "privileged tots" parading their extravagant gifts.

"I'd hoped for a little more choreographic razzmatazz", said Mark Monahan in The Telegraph, but this "sweet-toothed new 'Nutcracker' is a definite step up from the old, and one that I can imagine my two young children finding particularly enticing".

In the second act, we're "treated" to a "parade of global delicacies" from children as "very cute" Liquorice Allsorts to Rentaro Nakaaki as a "spinning, leaping Ukrainian poppy seed roll", added Winship in The Guardian. "The whole thing feels familiar but fresh, colourful but still classy, sweet but not sickly. A solid success."

At London Coliseum until 12 January

Matthew Bourne's tender yet sharply comic dance adaptation of "Edward Scissorhands" premiered in 2005 and was last staged in 2014, said Sarah Crompton in The Observer. Now, a revival is touring the UK – and it is an "utter treat". Bourne is a "canny operator" when it comes to developing titles with popular appeal, said Lyndsey Winship in The Guardian. But his decision to stage Tim Burton's beloved 1990 film, about a lonely synthetic boy, whose scientist creator has left him with lethal blades in place of hands, was not just "shrewd marketing". The material, with its outsider protagonist, peculiar setting in the suburbs of 1950s America, and "comic book-style exaggeration of plot and characters" perfectly matches Bourne's sensibilities as a choreographer – and it makes a warmly entertaining yet "bittersweet" show. 

This "magical dance reimagining" tugs your heartstrings "almost to breaking point", said Debra Craine in The Times. Brilliantly performed by a cast of 25, Bourne's choreography combines "comedy and pathos, with droll mime and jaunty social dances" and some big set pieces (a summer barbecue; the town's Christmas ball). There's also "swooning romance" in the tender moments (real and imagined) between Edward and love interest Kim. At the performance I saw, Liam Mower was a wonderfully "sweet, poignant" Edward, and Katrina Lyndon was "adorable" as Kim. But the "whole cast sparkles" – as do designer Lez Brotherston's clever, sumptuous sets. 

The production brims with "wit, whimsy and mischief", said Marianka Swain in The Daily Telegraph – and is full of the "kooky comic details" that help make Bourne's work so joyful. "Posters come to life, as does the topiary." And to top it all, there is glorious live music, said David Jays in the Evening Standard. Danny Elfman's "signature romantic spookery" from the film score has been "gorgeously extended" by composer Terry Davies. Full of honeyed chimes, circling voices and soulful strings, it's the icing on a very "plush" cake.

Sadler's Wells, London EC1 (020-7863 8000; sadlerswells.com). Until 20 January, then on tour. Running time: 1hr 55mins. Rating ****

Stars reflect the overall quality of reviews and our own independent assessment (5 stars=don’t miss; 1 star=don’t bother)

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Former Strictly Come Dancing judge Len Goodman has died three days before his 79th birthday, following a short battle with bone cancer.

The “much-loved husband, father and grandfather” died “peacefully” in a hospice in Tunbridge Wells in Kent on Saturday, “surrounded by his family”, his spokesperson said.

Goodman rose to stardom at the age of 60 when he became head judge on BBC show Strictly Come Dancing. The former ballroom dancer and coach went on the make several other shows with the broadcaster, including Len and Ainsley’s Big Food Adventure in 2015 and Partners in Rhyme in 2017, and also filled in occasionally on the BBC Radio 2 show of Paul O’Grady, who died last month.

Here are five things other things that you might not know about Goodman.

Owed Strictly gig to wedding speech

Only days before the first-ever episode of Strictly Come Dancing was due to air back in 2004, “the producers hit a crisis” when one of the judges dropped out “at the very last moment”, according to BBC News.

The producers had interviewed “dozens of former world champions” from the dance world but “none had been right”. Then, one of the dancers on the show, former New Zealand champion Erin Boag, suggested Goodman. “He's just a dance teacher from Dartford, but he’s a bit of a character,” she reportedly said.

In an article for The Telegraph following his death, Boag recalled how she had recently met Goodman, who “was already very respected in the dancing world”, at a London wedding, where he “gave the most incredible, funny, quick-witted speech”.

Acting on her suggestion, Strictly producers immediately invited Goodman in for an interview, and “he more or less instantly got the job”, Boag wrote.

Goodman remained a fixture on the show until 2016, and also hosted the US version Dancing with the Stars between 2005 and 2022.

Foot injury triggered dance career

Goodman attended his first dance class at the age of 14 but became a professional dancer “by accident”, said ITV News, after breaking a metatarsal bone in his foot at the age of 19. He had been training to become a footballer, but the injury ended his sports career.

Goodman had also begun an apprenticeship at an engineering factory after leaving school at 15, “but, by his own admission, was dreadful at it.was dreadful at it”, said BBC News. He took a welding course too, and did a stint working at the Harland and Wolff Royal docks in Woolwich, but “it wasn’t a job he liked”.

After injuring his foot, “he was advised to keep dancing as a way to aid recovery”, said The Telegraph. Goodman later recalled that he “looked like a man trying to dance with one leg in the gutter and the other on the pavement”. But “as my foot got better, I began to find I actually quite liked it”, he said.

Polish ancestry

Goodman was born in Farnborough in Kent and grew up in London’s East End. However, after signing up to appear on the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? in 2011, he discovered that his great-great grandfather was a Polish soldier named Josef Sosnowski, who came to Britain in 1834.

Sosnowski was “a member of a crack cavalry unit that fought in an uprising against Russia”, said the Who Do You Think You Are? website, and was “honoured for his bravery on the battlefield”. But he was “forced to flee his homeland” after the rebellion failed.

Upon learning of his heritage, Goodman said: “I feel no different, I look no different, I am no different and yet I’m not what I thought I was. I thought that I was truly an Anglo-Saxon, English through and through.”

Refused to eat foreign food

Despite being known for his spicy language and colourful sayings, Goodman’s “dining room table is another story”, said The Mirror in 2014, after Goodman appeared on BBC show Room 101. The star revealed that “I have never had a curry and I’ve never had spaghetti – all those worms and big brown sauce”.

He would eat some seafood, he said, but added: “Sushi? No! Cockles, mussels and maybe a winkle. Lovely jubbly... We’d all be happier and healthier if we could go back to those days of fish and chips.”

His food phobias, Goodman explained, stemmed back to advice offered by his grandfather, who told him “never eat anything you can’t spell and anything you wouldn’t want to tread in”.

Quit dancing at his peak

Goodman retired from competitive dancing in his late 20s, shortly after “winning a rising star competition in Blackpool” with his then wife Cherry Tolhurst, said BBC News.

The pair had been “driving thousands of miles a year” to demonstrate the cha-cha-cha and rumba to amateur classes, and opened a dance school in Dartmouth. But despite also winning several titles, Goodman later explained, he quit competing because he got “fed up with the politics of the business” and having to “placate and schmooze people that you didn’t really like, because you did not upset them, as they were judges”.

“Sleeping Beauty and vampires.” That unlikely pairing, said Lyndsey Winship in The Guardian, is the crux of Matthew Bourne’s “irresistible” dance-theatre production, which premiered in 2012 and which has now been revived at Sadler’s Wells, in advance of a lengthy UK tour.

Set to Tchaikovsky’s music, but with choreography that progresses from the conventionally balletic to more contemporary idioms, this gleefully over-the-top show packs in many of Bourne’s favourite things: a “fairy-tale twist, period details, farce and comedy of manners, visual humour”, and wittily extravagant designs courtesy of long-time collaborator Lez Brotherston.

In this reworking of the traditional ballet, Princess Aurora has already met her beloved, the royal gamekeeper Leo, when she falls into her 100-year sleep. “So how to keep him alive for a century and keep their love story going? Simple,” said Debra Craine in The Times. Make him a vampire, courtesy of a bite from Count Lilac, a “benevolent vampire fairy king”.

Ashley Shaw and Andrew Monaghan make a “delightful” Aurora and Leo, said Charlotte Vickers in What’s On Stage. And Paris Fitzpatrick is “wonderfully creepy” as both Carabosse, the vampire fairy, and Caradoc, Leo’s love rival. The overall effect is of a “properly Gothic fairy tale”, one “that can blow away adults or children, with its balance of camp, giggles, and emotional punches”.

To me, the piece lacks the “emotional wallop” of Bourne’s very best work, said David Jays in the London Evening Standard – owing in part to a plot that feels forced rather than “gorgeously inevitable”. Still, Bourne’s “gothed up” Sleeping Beauty is a “sumptuous and ingenious ride”.

No, its “not quite top-flight Bourne”, agreed Mark Monahan in The Daily Telegraph. But it’s a “superior” piece of entertainment that “belts along with considerably more drama and purpose than most Sleeping Beautys”. There’s “collective fire and purpose” to the performances, and a mischievous swagger to the whole evening. “I suggest you get your teeth into [it] before daybreak sometime soon.”

Sadler’s Wells, London EC1 until 15 January, then touring until 29 April (new-adventures.net)

When Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling premiered in 1978 it was “revolutionary”, said Sarah Crompton in The Observer – taking ballet into hitherto unexplored realms of “psychosis and misery”. It is based on real-life events, and although our protagonist is a prince, he is no “dreamboat”. Crown Prince Rudolf, heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, is riddled with syphilis, addicted to morphine, plotting against his father – and soon to die in a suicide pact with his teenage lover. More than 40 years on, the piece still feels “radical”, and the Royal Ballet’s magnificently danced revival is utterly “engrossing”. With a score of Liszt excerpts, and set design by Nicholas Georgiadis in “glowing autumnal colours, its imaginative, inventive confidence is truly astonishing”.

To open the new Covent Garden season with Mayerling – the ultimate study in “aristocratic depravity” – is “certainly not playing it safe”, said Debra Craine in The Times. The ballet may have its faults (too many characters; too much plot), but it’s a “thrilling” test for dancers. Nowhere else will leading male stars “find psychosis and passion so painfully etched in graphic choreography that challenges their bodies as well as their acting chops”. On opening night, Ryoichi Hirano as Rudolf “got better and better as the emotional temperature rose” – and his disintegration was superb. But his various pas de deux with the many women in Rudolf’s life were the “stars of the show”: sinister, melancholic and erotic.

The production features several of the company’s biggest female stars and, across the board, the dancing is “exceptional”, said Louise Levene in the FT. Natalia Osipova is typically brilliant as Rudolf’s doomed lover, as is Francesca Hayward as his unfortunate bride – “criss-crossing the stage in a tremulous pas de bourrée”. And Laura Morera’s reading of Rudolf’s discarded mistress is “revelatory”. Her exchanges with Osipova in the fortune-telling scene are “every bit as thrilling as the love duets: two dance actresses at the very height of their powers”.

Whoever said multi-storey car parks were dull? In Peckham, one in particular has become a huge cultural and creative centre that now has the clout to attract world-class artists. This month, the radical Israeli choreographer Sharon Eyal has taken up residency in said car park, moments from Peckham Rye station in the Bold Tendencies arts space.

The unconventional rooftop venue boasts sweeping views of the London skyline, with the Shard in one corner and the London Eye in the other, as well as art installations and a buzzing rooftop bar. The stage on the floor below is covered, but remains fittingly exposed to the elements.

Eyal’s show, designed with her partner in life and work, Gai Behar, is built around the same well-trodden theme as her previous two: love. “I believe that when you search into something very deeply, the subject doesn’t have to be something new – the approach has to be new. How you present it and how you share it,” she says. And Eyal’s work is nothing if not new.

Photo by André Le Corre

This weekend her L-E-V dance company (“lev” meaning “heart” in Hebrew) kicked off its month-long residency with the first of four programmes. The first, Parts of Love, is made up of extracts from their repertoire. It’s a haunting compilation that explores the darker and more dangerous sides of love.

In Eyal’s signature style, the movements showcase everything the body can do. Watching the striking contortions and convulsions of the immensely talented cast of eight, we are mesmerised by the path of each individual muscle and protruding bone. She shies away from classical lines, kicking off the performance in a place of discomfort and holding the audience there throughout.

Photo by Regina Brocke

Paying little attention to gender, Eyal, who has previously collaborated with Maria Grazia Chiuri of Dior, dresses her dancers in androgynous nude or black leotards and black socks, and rarely pairs them up. You’re left less with the impression that you’re watching human romance unfold, and more the life of a group of organisms, with carnal and sometimes violent desires. Yet in the harsh, concrete landscape of the Peckham stage, the body’s ultimate vulnerability shines through.

In the coming weeks L-E-V will perform collaborations with the National Youth Dance Company, and the record label Young Turks, closing with their own brand new material designed for the space. While Eyal’s work may not be obviously accessible, the universality of the theme, the innovative collaborations and the intimate scale of the work – not to mention the very hip setting – might be just what modern dance needs to beckon in an untested audience.

L-E-V will be performing at Bold Tendencies until 18 August. Tickets here.

Photo by Stephen Wright

Top photo by Gil Shani

What you need to know

The Royal Ballet's revival of Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ballet has opened at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The production, first performed in 2011, features a scenario by Nicholas Wright, score by Joby Talbot and stage and costume designs by Bob Crowley.

Based on Lewis Carroll's classic children's story, it follows plucky Alice as she falls down a rabbit hole into a dreamlike world of magical encounters with a cast of curious characters including the Queen of Hearts, a Mad Hatter and a Cheshire Cat. Runs until 16 January, with a live cinema screening 16 December.

What the critics like

Wheeldon's extravaganza does not shy away from Lewis Carroll's "absurdist, dark and occasionally Kafka-esque" story, says Laura Thompson in the Daily Telegraph. Conjuring the plot and its nonsense-cum-logical progression with remarkable fidelity, it's a richly impressive achievement and dazzling stuff.

It's "a visual joy" and a theatrical response worthy of every Lewis Carroll trick, says Clement Crisp in the Financial Times. The Royal Ballet's artists rally grandly to this jolly evening, staged with wit, bravura, and unfailing imaginative resource. Wheeldon's hard-working mix of skewed classical ballet, vaudeville and Victorian theatrical magic makes for "an inventive entertainment", says David Nice on the Arts Desk. You'll get your money's worth simply from the wonders of Crowley's designs and the occasional treacle quotient is fine for seasonal cheer.

What they don't like

"It's all very clever but what we're lacking is any driving force or dramatic tension", because this Alice is essentially a bystander, not the headstrong girl of the book, says Lindsey Winship in the Evening Standard. Go to be visually wowed and pleasantly entertained but don't expect a mind-altering trip.

What you need to know

A new Royal Ballet triple bill inspired by music and themes from the WWII period is playing at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The bill features one new work, Liam Scarlett's Age of Anxiety, and two works dating back to 2103 - Kim Brandstrup's Ceremony of Innocence and Christopher Wheeldon's Aeternum.

Kim Brandstrup's Ceremony of Innocence was created for the Benjamin Britten centenary, and is set to Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, an elegy of lost youth. Wheeldon's Aeternum, choreographed to Britten's 1940 Sinfonia da Requiem – is a response to the outbreak of WWII. Scarlett's new work, Age of Anxiety, is based on the 1946 poem by W H Auden and set to Leonard Bernstein's Symphony no.2. Runs until 17 November.

What the critics like

This triple bill is a hymn to the new, yet there is nothing brash or outlandish about this collection of "decorous, sonorous, richly elegiac ballets", says Laura Thompson in the Daily Telegraph. Brandstrup's Ceremony of Innocence, set to a delving, melancholic score by Britten is tremendously beautiful.

This triple bill picks up on and subtly plays with the anxiety felt by those great British artists, Britten and Auden, in the 1930s and 1940s, says Hanna Weibye on the Arts Desk. Liam Scarlett wrings a poignant story from Auden's poem, with "four stupendous actor-dancers", riveting in their roles and with more than a hint of Gene Kelly.

Even if you don't fancy everything in this Royal Ballet triple bill "you are in for a terrific evening of music", says Debra Craine in The Times. The programme ends with Christopher Wheeldon's powerful Aeternum, a passionate journey into death culminating in a gripping duet, while the three great scores are conducted with fervour and dedication by Barry Wordsworth.

What they don't like

For all its craft, Scarlett's Age of Anxiety, dealing with post-war themes of disillusionment and confusion, "feels disappointingly lightweight", says Judith Makrell in The Guardian. He might have made a bolder and more personal ballet if he'd opted to update its scenario to his own 21st-century age of anxiety.

What you need to know

A revival of Kenneth MacMillan's ballet Manon has opened at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. MacMillan created the ballet in 1974, based on Abbe Prevost's 1731 novel, with a score by Jules Massenet.

It tells the story of Manon, a beautiful young woman who leaves her poor student lover, Des Grieux, after being pimped out to a wealthy man by her mercenary brother Lescaut. Initially seduced by Monsieur GM's money, she eventually leaves him to return to Des Grieux, and suffers the rich man's revenge.

The title role is danced by alternating soloists including Marianela Nunez and Russian star Natalia Osipova. Runs until 1 November, and broadcast live in cinemas 16 October.

What the critics like

Lovers of classical ballet should go and see this "magnificent" production of Manon, while sceptics should see it twice, says Mark Monahan in the Daily Telegraph. It remains a towering piece of work, infernally sexy, desperately moving and blessed with a terrific Massenet score.

Kenneth MacMillan's "sex-and-death blockbuster" is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and seems more popular than ever, says Debra Craine in The Times. And who can resist such a sordid and seductive tale or the sizzling sensuality of MacMillan's choreography?

Yes, there's some blistering sex in Manon, but this modern classic "fascinates because it's so ambiguous", says Hanna Weibye on the Arts Desk. It raises questions about morality, culpability and femininity that other ballets often answer simplistically, or never ask at all.

What they don't like

"Even in 1974, this ballet was a period drama", but it was gritty, with insalubrious goings-on, says Lyndsey Winship in the Evening Standard. But 40 years on, this story of an 18th-century material girl has lost some of its power.

What you need to know

The Mariinsky Ballet's production of Swan Lake has opened at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The famed classical dance company from St Petersburg have recreated Konstantin Sergeyev's renowned 1950 staging as choreographed by Petipa and Ivanov, with music by Tchaikovsky.

In this version of the classic ballet, Prince Siegfried and his love Odette, a princess transformed into a swan, overcome the forces of evil to find true love.

Twelve dancers alternate in the lead roles of Siegfried and Odette, including Xander Parish, the first British dancer to join the company in its 250-year history. Runs until 14 August.

What the critics like

The "sublime magnificence of the Mariinsky corps de ballet" are at the heart of what ballet is all about, says Allen Robertson in The Times. These women are second to none and their exquisite clockwork precision is worthy of Faberge.

No performance of Swan Lake has ever been perfect, but "the Mariinsky comes close", says Laura Thompson in the Daily Telegraph. The ballet is a mysterious atmospheric mix of theatrical, fantastical, folkloric and romantic and the magnificent corps de ballet are the very essence of ballet.

With Swan Lake the Mariinsky is "on home ground" thanks to Konstantin Sergeyev's fairytale spaciousness and picturebook sets, says Zoe Anderson in The Independent. The corps de ballet is also "superbly disciplined" and perfectly synchronised as dancers sway and flow with shared refinement.

What they don't like

There's lots to enjoy, but "the problem with these epic three-act ballets is there's always a lot of stuffing before you get to the meat", says Lindsey Winship in the Evening Standard. Xander Parish certainly has a career to watch, but this is not quite a blazing debut.

What you need to knowHip hop dance festival Breakin’ Convention has opened its 2014 season at Sadler’s Wells, London before embarking on a UK tour. Curated by artistic director Jonzi D the event presents UK and international hip hop dance artists.

The event features live performances from hip hop acts including British actor/dancer Ukweli Roach’s study of addiction, Vice, ‘disabled’ international troupe Ill-Abilities, and French group Wanted Posse. The UK tour will also feature local dance groups from each city. Tour dates across the UK until 7 June.

What the critics likeThis indoor hip-hop block party is “so disciplined, so exhilarating it could stand comparison to any classical corps de ballet”, says dance critic Judith Mackrell in The Guardian. This is a work of leaping energy and ferociously drilled formations.

The festival provides “a snapshot of young people’s engagement, identity and aspiration”, says Clement Crisp in the Financial Times. In the grand dance tradition, it presents performers with not a foot or a head or a shoulder out of place - Hip Hop Hurray!

“This is anything but a strictly testosterone-fuelled festival,” says Donald Hutera in The Times. The creative female is being heard, but it’s even more gratifying to see how much psychological depth and emotional maturity today’s artists are finding in hip-hop’s multifarious movement vocabularies.

What they don’t like“For all the performers' prowess, what sometimes seems to be missing is the urban context itself,” says The Guardian’s architecture and design critic Oliver Wainwright. For a dance form that is so closely tied to the street, it can be strange to see it insulated from the city by the black-box of a contemporary dance studio.

What you need to know

Critics are calling the English National Ballet's production of Le Corsaire, at the Coliseum, London, "a roaring, madcap success". The 19th Century ballet was originally created by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, and is loosely based on a poem by Lord Byron.

Le Corsaire (The Pirate) tells the story of Conrad, a pirate who falls in love a beautiful harem girl, Medora. When Conrad decides to take Medora for himself, he stirs up unrest and treachery among his fellow pirates.

The English National Ballet's production of Le Corsaire, staged by Anna-Marie Holmes, has been touring the UK since October. Sets and costumes are by Hollywood film designer Bob Ringwood (Batman, Alien 3, and Troy). At the Coliseum until 19 January.

What the critics like

"The production is a roaring, madcap success," says Clement Crisp in the Financial Times. This jolly, sped-up version is a romp where narrative whistles past as seen from a bullet train and the dancers work with tireless verve and huge enthusiasm.

This "swashbuckling escapism" is an antidote to January gloom, says Lindsey Winship in the Evening Standard. The whole thing looks fantastic, and there are lots of meaty dancing roles to show off the company, who all look like they're having a rollicking good time.

"Le Corsaire makes a sparkly post-Christmas treat, overflowing with colourful costumes, pirates, sumptuous scenery and dance party pieces," says Zoe Anderson in The Independent. Designer Bob Ringwood is the hero of the show, conjuring up an Arabian Nights fantasy of moonlit vistas and glittering palaces.

What they don't like

For a show nominally about pirates and slaves, "there's little emotional angst", says Keith Watson in Metro. This shipwrecked romance is technically impressive but skims the surface with no hidden depths.