William Forsythe thinks that "every city in the world should have a Sadler's Wells". In 2011, when the American choreographer was working with Sylvie Guillem and Nicolas Le Riche on a new duet, Rearray, he was both impressed and entertained to discover that in the studio next door were Javier de Frutos and the Pet Shop Boys rehearsing their own production, The Most Incredible Thing. That was the moment when Forsythe decided that the Wells had become the most lively dance theatre on the planet.
It was in 1994 that the theatre's former director, Ian Albery, approached the Arts Council with a plan to transform the north London venue into a specialist dance house. Many thought he was deluded, arguing that dance had neither the profile nor the audience to justify its own designated theatre. Yet, as Sarah Crompton records in her new book, Sadler's Wells, both arguments have been trounced. Since the theatre's reopening in 1999, the number of dance events presented per year has more than trebled, from 32 to 106, while ticket sales have risen by 72%. "It is incredible when you think about how important this place is for dance in the UK" says Michael Nunn, one half of the BalletBoyz and one of the theatre's regulars. His partner, William Trevitt, concurs: "It created a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. It is the dance house."
The facts and figures that Crompton assembles make a persuasive case for the theatre's transformation. But even more compelling are her detailed descriptions of the work that takes place inside it. The turning point in the Wells's recent history came in 2005, when its current artistic director Alistair Spalding began inviting choreographers and dancers to become associate artists, giving them space and funding to create new work. There are now 15 of them (alongside eight, younger new wave associates) and they represent a top flight range of talent, from Zoo Nation to Wayne McGregor/Random Dance, Sylvie Guillem to Matthew Bourne. All of those interviewed by Crompton report that the Wells now feels like a uniquely creative home, with Spalding's calm mantra "Don't worry … just create" inspiring them to attempt projects that might never otherwise have reached the stage.
Crompton provides revelatory insights into the working process of some of these associates: the backstory to Zero Degrees, the duet created by Akram Khan and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui in 2005, or to Russell Maliphant and Guillem's 2005 collaboration Push. She also details the lucky timing of the theatre's transformation. With this last decade seeing 13% of the population now attending some kind of dance performance and an average 10.5 million viewers tuning into Strictly Come Dancing, dance has finally shaken off its peculiar reputation in Britain for being incomprehensible, irrelevant and elitist.
The democratisation of dance was actually attempted as early as 1931, when Lilian Baylis oversaw the rebuilding of Sadler's Wells as a showcase for new British ballet, and opera. Baylis, a visionary philanthropist, believed that art was as necessary to the spirit of the nation as fresh air and clean water were to its physical health. And according to the late Leo Kersley, a British dancer whose own parents were among Baylis' audience, so dogged was her vision that she constantly chivvied local, people in Islington to take advantage of her cheap tickets. When young couples started to have children and were no longer free to go out at night, Baylis would arrange babysitters for them – sometime even sit herself – so that they were free to maintain their theatre-going habit.
After the war, the theatre's resident ballet company, Sadler's Wells Ballet, moved on to Covent Garden to become the Royal Ballet and over the decades, the Wells lost its devoted, broad-based audience. But Spalding and his team are trying hard to welcome it back. They don't offer babysitting any longer, and ticket prices can rise to £70 for major productions. But the cheapest regular tickets remain an affordable £12 and the Wells programme aims to range across the entire art form – from its most popular annual events, such as the Breakin' Convention festival and the Matthew Bourne Christmas seasons, to its most austerely avant-garde pieces. That range is vividly represented in the Well's upcoming Sampled season, which has been extended to a fortnight this year, with a mix of extracts from the theatre's recent repertory, including Stuttgart Ballet, Vagabond Crew, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and Hofesh Shechter, with seats at just £8 and £12.
The success of the Wells has its flipside. Its critics argue that the theatre has acquired too great a monopoly, deflecting publicity, talent and funding from other venues; also that Spalding and his team have allowed their own tastes excessive prominence in the programming. Those choreographers and companies who find themselves excluded from the theatre refer to it bitterly as "Fortress Wells". But Crompton argues that it is still evolving as an institution. And within the dance scene as a whole, its success has had a knock-on effect. It paves the way for homegrown works to tour internationally, raising the profile of their choreographers and dancers. And at the same time, the main stage attracts an exemplary range of visiting companies from established legends such as Tanztheater Wuppertal, to rising talents like Crystal Pite.
Hofesh Shechter, an associate artist, describes the theatre as "the mecca of contemporary dance". And Christopher Wheeldon, the British choreographer whose own works are staged around the world, believes its success has helped to put London, as a whole, at the centre of the dance map. Two years ago, Wheeldon braved the wrath of established dance cities such as Paris and New York by announcing: "For me now London is, without question, the dance capital of the world."
• Sadler's Sampled at Sadler's Wells, 22 June to 7 July, 0844 412 4300
