Arielle Smith Recognised as The Stage 25 Top Choreographers

We are proud to announce that our alumni Arielle Smith has been recognised as a top choreographer to look out for in 2022 by The Stage. Named as one of the Top 25 choreographers, Arielle Smith takes place beside other notable artists such as Sha Dessie and Carly Mercedes Dyer.

Unlike other years where The Stage spotlights a list of 100 artists, this year The Stage celebrated their 25th anniversary with 25 artists. These artists, including Arielle, are theatremakers who The Stage believe will go on to do great things and perhaps make The Stage 100 someday alongside the likes of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sonia Friedman. This change also came in response to the COVID-19 pandemic bringing the industry to its knees and despite ‘a fragile recovery has just hit the rocks of Covid again’. The Stage describes their choice to look ahead instead of the usual retrospective as a way to ‘look beyond the current woes, and celebrate the future of theatre.’

Arielle has always pushed the boundaries even during her tenure as a student here. After graduating The Guardian named her as one of the five women pushing dance forward – an incredible achievement at only 22. Now being highlighted by The Stage we are once again thrilled with Arielle’s achievements. The Stage describe her use of music as ‘vivid’ and ‘cunning’, her latest work Jolly Folly as ‘joyous’ and her debut with English National Ballet as a ‘runaway hit’. We at Rambert School cannot wait to see what Arielle will do next.

To read The Stage’s article around Arielle click here.