Sadler’s Wells East Will Be Home to a Choreographic Development Program, Hip-Hop Academy, and More

Sadler’s Wells East is due to open later this year in London’s Queen Elizabeth Park, site of the 2012 Olympic Games. The 550-seat auditorium, which sits opposite the Olympic Stadium (now home to West Ham United football club), will be the fourth stage programmed by Sadler’s Wells, the U.K.’s leading contemporary-dance house, joining the original theater and the Lilian Baylis Studio in north London, and the Peacock Theatre in London’s West End. Sadler’s Wells is already a presenting house, a producer of shows that tour internationally—including the recent U.S. engagements of Kate Prince’s Message in a Bottle, set to the songs of Sting—and a supporter of artists. The theater has 23 associate artists, including the likes of Akram Khan, Sharon Eyal, Oona Doherty, and Crystal Pite, and recently launched the £40,000 Rose International Dance Prize.  Rendering of Sadler’s Wells East. Photo courtesy Sadler’s Wells. The new mid-scale venue, which also houses six studios, will allow the theater to further expand its work and make a greater diversity of programming from regional and international artists possible. The smaller size of the theater means less financial risk for companies touring to London but leaves plenty of room for artistic risk, according to...