Curtain rises on Sadler’s Wells’ elegant East Bank ‘end terrace’

By Daniel Gayne2025-02-07T07:00:00

Last night’s opening of the new dance theatre marked another stage in the Olympic Park’s development as a cultural destination designed to lure artists and audiences out of their traditional West End comfort zone, Daniel Gayne reports

“Whatever ideas you have about dance being free, fluid, expressive and free-form, you just have to put those out of your mind,” John Tuomey tells Building, half shouting over the heavy winds blowing across Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Sadler’s Wells East is O’Donnell + Tuomey’s first ever dance theatre scheme, but its opening last night was more than just a landmark for the Irish practice. It also marked an important point in the development of East Bank, a new arts quarter backed by the mayor of London’s biggest ever cultural investment which aims to drag the cultural centre of gravity in the capital eastwards.

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