02/04/2026
Expanding Ballet One Le***an Story at a Time: Inside Northern Ballet’s Gentleman Jack
In this talk, Clare Croft, dance scholar and dramaturg for Northern Ballet’s new ballet Gentleman Jack (on at Sadler’s Wells from May 19-23) will discuss how centering a ballet on a le***an character destabilizes longstanding balletic codes of chivalry and gender.
Professor Clare Croft (Department of American Culture, University of Michigan) is a writer, dance historian, theorist, dramaturg and curator, and someone who dances. Croft serves as dramaturg for the Northern Ballet’s (Leeds UK) Gentleman Jack, choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and currently on tour throughout the UK. Croft is the author of Jill Johnston in Motion: Dance, Writing, and Le***an Life and the editor of The Essential Jill Johnston Reader (Duke University Press 2024). She is also the editor of Q***r Dance: Meanings and Makings (Oxford 2017; 2nd edition forthcoming in 2026); the founder/curator of the EXPLODE q***r dance festival; and the author of Dancers as Diplomats: American Choreography in Cultural Exchange. Croft’s dance criticism has appeared in The Washington Postand The Brooklyn Rail. Croft holds a PhD in Performance as Public Practice from the University of Texas-Austin (US).
Wednesday 20th May, 2026. 6-7pm
RHUL, 11 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3RE
First Floor Lady Herringham Room 1-01 (BEDSQ-1-01)
