London’s Dance Umbrella is 25 years old, and now founder Val Bourne is close to retirement. “Not since Ninette de Valois founded the Royal Ballet has a British dance institution been so intimately identified with a single individual. From the early shoestring days to Umbrella’s current high profile, it has been Bourne’s own tastes that have governed the festival’s programming. It was Bourne who nurtured the London careers of American choreographers such as Trisha Brown and Morris, and Bourne who doggedly supported native talent such as Michael Clark.”