Sound of Dance

Katie Derham talks to internationally renowned Cuban dancer and choreographer Carlos Acosta about his new show celebrating 30 years in dance.

From the streets of Cuba to an international career spanning the National Ballet of Cuba, English National Ballet, Houston Ballet, and a long term residency at the Royal Ballet, Carlos Acosta is one of the world's greatest dancers. Following his retirement from classical ballet in 2016, Carlos returns to the London stage with a new show with his company Acosta Danza. Carlos talks to Katie about putting his show together, what inspires him as a dancer and a choreographer, and reflects on his 30 years in dance.

Producer - Ellie Mant

Katie Derham explores the world of tap with leading lady Clare Halse and resident choreographer Simon Adkins from the smash hit musical 42nd Street.

From its roots as a mixture of clog dancing, soft shoe and African-influenced dance, tap as we know it started to emerge in the 1920s. Some Vaudeville and night club performers successfully made the transition into film when the talkies were invented, culminating a golden age of Hollywood with dancers like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Katie looks at the history and development of the dance form, and talks to Clare Halse and Simon Adkins about how the rhythm of tap becomes part of a musical score.

Producer - Ellie Mant

Katie Derham explores the life and legacy of Marie Rambert, one of the pioneers of modern British ballet, and talks to choreographer Wayne Eagling about his new ballet based on her life.

Born in Poland, Marie 'Mim' Rambert's career began in Paris, helping Diaghilev train his cast to dance the Rite of Spring. At the outbreak of WW1 she came to London and formed her own dance school, which developed into the Ballet Rambert, the oldest English ballet company still performing today. Her teaching inspired the next generations of dancers and choreographers, including Wayne Eagling whose new ballet 'Remembrance' is based on her life, and the separation from her husband when he was called away to war. Katie talks to Wayne about the concept of his new ballet, and Marie Rambert's continuing importance to the ballet world.

Producer - Ellie Mant

Katie Derham explores the vibrant and varied world of Caribbean music and dance and finds out why it makes a good dance partner with mediaeval French Polyphony.

So much of the culture of the Caribbean has been shaped by the many and various peoples who have informed its history, and this is mirrored in its music and dance.

Katie Derham looks at some of distinctive dance styles of the Caribbean and meets the award-winning choreographers Cecilia Bengolea and François Chaignaud, whose latest dance collaboration DFS, currently running at Sadlers Wells, fuses Caribbean Dance Hall with the music of Machaut.

Katie Derham meets the choreographer and dancer Akram Khan as he undertakes his last performing role in a full length piece with Xenos for Sadler Wells.

Continuing with the Indian dance theme, Katie's Classic Score of the Week is Ludwig Minkus's "La Bayadere".

Katie Derham looks at the response from the world of ballet to the music of Bach with the American dancer and choreographer Mark Morris. The spirit of dance lies at the heart of so much of Bach's music and in recent years choreographers have tapped into this for inspiration for new work - most notably Mark Morris, whose arresting and innovative work for ballet has often made people think the medium afresh. The music of the Baroque has provided him with a rich source of inspiration, including his work with cellist Yo Yo Ma for the series "Inspired by Bach" which resulted in the acclaimed "Falling Down Stairs" - a dancer's response to Bach's Cello Suite No 3.

Katie Derham considers a seasonal favourite - Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. She looks at its journey from the short story by ETA Hoffmann, via Alexandre Dumas, to the ballet stage and talks to conductor Paul Murphy of the Birmingham Royal Ballet about the nature of Tchaikovsky's music and how, as a conductor, he sets about shaping it to make it work for the dancers.

Katie Derham explores the adventurous choreography of Sir Kenneth MacMillan 25 years after his death, in conversation with the former director of the Royal Ballet Dame Monica Mason and the Royal Ballet principal dancer Edward Watson, uncovering the key elements of Macmillan's style and the importance of narrative in his works. The classic score of the week is Stravinsky's The Fairy's Kiss, which Macmillan choreographed in 1960.

Katie Derham considers the world of early jazz dance with Strictly Come Dancing choreographer Ryan Francois, from its roots in the notorious world of black slavery, to Harlem in the 1920s, and beyond.

A popular feature of BBC One's "Strictly Come Dancing" are the jazz routines - the Charleston and Jive, with their colour, excitement and joie de vivre. Katie Derham looks back on the journey that these dance styles undertook before arriving at their modern form and considers the stories, music and movement that shaped them. With Katie is one of Strictly's regular choreographers, Ryan Francois, a specialist in jazz dance, who helps to unpick the origins of one of dance's most vibrant forms.

"The first thing you're told is listen, listen to the music - the music and the step are as one. As a child you're not always aware of this".

Katie Derham talks to a Darcey Bussell about a dancer's relationship with music. Darcey Bussell, as a Principal at the Royal Ballet for nearly twenty years and now a judge on Strictly Come Dancing, has prepared many roles for the stage, and also has a broad range of tastes in music. She looks back over her career, and to some of her earliest forays in dance, to consider some of the almost alchemical ways in which dancer and music interact. She offers suggestions of where music and dance are wonderfully matched in the work of others, not least in the partnership of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and talks about some of her favourite and inspirational music for the ballet.

The programme features music for some of Darcey's great roles including from Romeo and Juliet; The Prince Of The Pagodas; Sylvia; and The Song Of The Earth.