I was hooked on ballet from an early age I was five, watching a class all dressed in pale-pink led by a thin, beautiful teacher dressed in burgundy. She was so different from the other teachers at my school, who were nuns. My parents didn't want me to do ballet, so I insisted until they gave up: I used crying and all the manipulative tricks little kids have.

Return of the prodigals: The Royal Ballet’s latest mixed bill is a celebration of choreographer Frederick Ashton, but the news of the evening is Sergei Polunin with Tamara Rojo in Marguerite and Armand.

"It’s about finding your own identity.” It can’t be easy living in the shadow of his famous uncle, Carlos, who helped get him into the Cuban National Ballet School, aged 10, and with whom he shares a striking resemblance.

Children will be denied the chance to pursue careers in dance, music and theatre because Michael Gove's new English Baccalaureate Certificate will exclude arts courses, the head of Sadler's Wells has warned.

New English Ballet Theatre is an idealistic venture, a showcase company for young dancers and aspiring choreographers. It has influential patrons, including ballerinas Darcey Bussell and Marianela Nuñez, and a commitment to live music and new design. Synergies, NEBT’s debut programme, had some lively dancing and good music, but too much thin choreography.

Is ballet a sport? Of course it’s not, in the competitive sense, although the physicality and athleticism on the bill for Dance GB, a three-way collaboration between Scottish Ballet, National Dance Company Wales and English National Ballet to celebrate the forthcoming Olympics, would surely impress any national selectors.

The baritone Derek Hammond-Stroud was remarkably versatile, encompassing lieder and opera from Gilbert and Sullivan to Wagner and Richard Strauss.

Ivan Putrov’s Men In Motion suffers from the law of diminishing returns.

A floating opera written by Monty Python star Terry Jones and impromptu Shakespeare recitals on the Tube by award-winning actor Mark Rylance are among the cultural events that will run alongside the Olympics in London this summer.

Ukrainian who quit Royal Ballet faces uncertain future after losing right to dance in Britain

A Slice of Britain: There's not a sugar plum fairy in sight as English National Ballet pops its Nutcracker back on the shelf and prepares to bring favourite Gershwin tunes to life at the London Coliseum

For the end of their London Christmas season, English National Ballet dive into Strictly Gershwin with a will. Derek Deane’s production blends ballet and ballroom, with a dollop of tap dancing and a fair bit of padding. The dancers do it all with care and attention. At the back of the American in Paris crowd scenes, you can spot corps dancers giving their steps a flirtatious edge.

You expect to see The Nutcracker staged at Christmas – but this year's snowstorm of productions is overwhelming. The trouble is there's not much else to take its place, says Jessica Duchen