Pam Tanowitz, Royal Opera House, review: American choreographer’s star continues to rise

‘Secret Things’, a highly anticipated new work, goes from meditative to glitzy and back again

Hannah Grennell and Giacomo Rovero in ‘Secret Things’ at the ROH (Alice Pennefather/ROH 2023)

Choreographer Pam Tanowitz can pick up a movement and turn it over, tilting it to see how it catches the light. Secret Things, her quirky new work for The Royal Ballet, goes from meditative to glitzy and back again. 

Based in New York, Tanowitz has had a quiet rise to international status. She founded her own company in 2000, and had a major breakthrough with her lucid 2018 staging of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets. For the Royal Ballet, she’s working in the smaller Linbury Theatre, rather than the big main stage, and makes the most of its intimate space.

Soloist Hannah Grennell makes her entrance from among the musicians, a string quartet playing a whispering new score by Anna Clyne. Once she’s on stage, Grennell moves in long, clean lines, then wriggles to find a new angle.