A strangely flat year for ballet was offset by triumphant outings for the likes of Rambert, Earthfall and Matthew Bourne. Lesley Barnes looks back at an eventful and generally captivating 2011 in dance.

2011's dance year began and ended on a high thanks to Bath's two universities. It started with Protein Dance's `'LOL (lots of love)' at the ICIA, a witty look at the growing reliance on cyber relationships in the Twitter age. And it ended with Earthfall's moving 'At Swim Two Boys' at Bath Spa University, a magnificent production staged entirely in water, which drew remarkable performances from its two protagonists.

Balletically, 2011 wasn't a great year. The Russian Ballet of Siberia performed three works at the Hippodrome including the frankly confusing 'Don Quixote', while if the Moscow City Ballet, who descended upon Bath's Theatre Royal with 'Swan Lake' and 'The Nutcracker', seemed somewhat lacklustre, this was due in no little part to the shortcomings of their orchestra! In contrast, Rambert Dance's welcome annual Bath visit produced another high-quality triple bill of the sort we have come to expect from the country's number one contmporary dance company. Mark Baldwin's latest piece 'seven for a secret, never to be told' sat alongside American Paul Taylor's sublime 'Roses' and the bleak yet strangely upbeat 'Monolith', from British choreographer Tim Rushton, artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet.

At the Tobacco Factory during Mayfest, Probe's 'May' proved perplexing; out on the streets Bodies in Urban Spaces wrapped themselves around lamposts to highlight the relationship between bodies and architecture; elsewhere Janis Claxton's 'Humanimalia' marked the return of professional dance to the Bristol Community Dance Centre. Sonia Sabri Company's 'Kathakbox' introduced a new dance form – Urban Kathak – to both the egg and Tobacco Factory audiences, while both venues also staged Half Moon's delightful kid's show 'Rip, Fold, Scrunch', a magical journey through a paper world.

Bath Spa's busy year continued with Tilted Productions' 'Masquerade', set in a surreal world of melting faces and dreams, while Jean Abreu's 'Inside', a look at men incarcerated and isolated, seemed overlong and lacking focus. Across town at the University of Bath's ICIA, meanwhile, Victoria Melody's 'Northern Soul' investigated said music phenomenon with humour and sensitivity, and Ben Wright's bgroup brought us an early scattering of snow in 'The Lessening of Difference'.

In recent years Arnolfini's focus has moved from dance/physical theatre to inter-art projects, but there were welcome exceptions: Bristol-based Canadian Laila Diallo's collaboration with Theo Clinkard; Geraldine Pilgrim's 15-minute 'Handbag'; Darren Johnston's reworked solo 'Ousia' (another Mayfest entrant); and Dog Hill Project. As far as high-profile events go, it was left to Matthew Bourne's 'Cinderella' at the Hippodrome to wow. Transporting the fairytale to the London Blitz, with truly exceptional designs by Lez Brotherson, it was really a musical without words rather than a ballet, but what the heck, the audience adored it. And Bourne will be back in 2012 ... (Lesley Barnes)

Copyright Lesley Barnes 2011