Dance Watch

The principal of The Royal Ballet and star of the Cats movie Francesca Hayward as Clara in The Nutcracker. Subscribe to our channel and find out more at https://www.roh.org.uk/showings/the-n… Featuring Meaghan Grace Hinkis, Emma Maguire, Mayara Magri and Leticia Stock and Gary Avis as Herr Drosselmeyer in the Dance of the Mirlitons, also known as the Dance of the Reed Flutes, The Nutcracker is a Christmas treat for the whole family and a classic with a special place in the hearts of ballet fans around the world. Recorded in 2016, this special performance celebrated Peter Wright’s 90th birthday and will [More]

Principal Dancers of The Royal Ballet Sarah Lamb and Alexander Campbell in Within The Golden Hour. Subscribe to our channel and find out more at http://www.roh.org.uk Christopher Wheeldon created Within the Golden Hour for San Francisco Ballet in 2008, as part of their New Works Festival in celebration of the company’s 75th anniversary. Italian minimalist composer Ezio Bosso created the original score for strings, incorporating music by Vivaldi. It was first performed by The Royal Ballet in 2016. Within the Golden Hour is structured into sections, accentuated by Jasper Conran’s designs. Around three central pas de deux, the ballet exhibits [More]

Sarah Lamb as Baroness Mary Vetsera and Steven McRae as Crown Prince Rudolf. Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling was filmed and screened live in cinemas on 15 October 2018. Find out more at https://www.roh.org.uk/productions/ma… Mayerling is based on the true story of the deaths of Crown Prince Rudolf and his teenage mistress Mary Vetsera in 1889. This dark and intense ballet was created for The Royal Ballet in 1978 and is regarded by many as among Kenneth MacMillan’s finest works. Orchestrated and arranged by John Lanchbery, the music of Franz Liszt sweeps the story to its intense conclusion, and sumptuous designs by [More]

Mayara Magri as Mitzi, and Marcelino Sambé, Reece Clarke, Tomas Mock and Calvin Richardson as Four Hungarian Officers, and Steven McRae as Crown Prince Rudolf. Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling was filmed and screened live in cinemas on 15 October 2018. Find out more at https://www.roh.org.uk/productions/ma… Mayerling is based on the true story of the deaths of Crown Prince Rudolf and his teenage mistress Mary Vetsera in 1889. This dark and intense ballet was created for The Royal Ballet in 1978 and is regarded by many as among Kenneth MacMillan’s finest works. Orchestrated and arranged by John Lanchbery, the music of Franz [More]

Alice (Lauren Cuthbertson) stumbles upon the Mad Hatter (Steven McRae) in Christopher Wheeldon’s curious production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for The Royal Ballet. Find out more at http://www.roh.org.uk/alice Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland burst onto the stage in 2011 in an explosion of colour, stage magic and inventive, sophisticated choreography. Joby Talbot’s score combines contemporary soundworlds with sweeping melodies that gesture to ballet scores of the 19th century. Bob Crowley’s wildly imaginative, eye-popping designs draw on everything from puppetry to projections to make Wonderland wonderfully real. Alice encounters a cast of extraordinary and instantly recognizable characters, from the [More]

Principal dancers Edward Watson and Marianela Nuñez dance the final pas de deux in Wayne McGregor’s abstract ballet Infra, a moving exploration of emotion, set to Max Richter’s melancholic and beautiful score. Find out more at https://www.roh.org.uk/productions/in… In Wayne McGregor’s masterpiece of abstract ballet, 12 dancers portray the emotions beneath the surface of human interaction – the title Infra comes from the Latin word for ‘below’. This collaboration with artist Julian Opie was created for The Royal Ballet in 2008 and has been performed around the world to critical acclaim. Opie’s LED figures walk across a screen above the stage [More]

Dancers of The Royal Ballet and members of the creative team reveal why Balanchine’s Jewels is a work loved by performers. Find out more at http://www.roh.org.uk/jewels Among other things, Balanchine loved jewellery and was inspired to create this famous piece after a visit to the New York jewellers, Van Cleef and Arpels. He noted, however, that the ballet, which references different periods of ballet history in each act, had little to do with gemstones except for the costumes which are covered in them. Instead, Jewel is a pure celebration of music and dance. ‘Dancers love dancing it, audiences still love [More]

Alexander Campbell as Hans-Peter/the Nutcracker dances his mime sequence from Act II of Peter Wright’s production of The Nutcracker, recorded live in December 2013. Find out more at http://www.roh.org.uk/nutcracker Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker score was commissioned by the director of the Russian Imperial Theatres, following the resounding success of The Sleeping Beauty in 1890. Marius Petipa created the scenario, which is based on a fairytale by E.T.A. Hoffmann, and Lev Ivanov provided the choreography. The Nutcracker was first performed in 1892 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. It initially had a poor reception, but its combination of enchanting choreography [More]

Royal Ballet Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor rehearses and introduces his latest work for The Royal Ballet, with dancers Matthew Ball, Calvin Richardson and Edward Watson, and composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. Find out more at www.roh.org.uk/productions/obsidian-tear­-by-wayne-mcgregor Obsidian Tear is the latest work from The Royal Ballet’s award-winning Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor. McGregor has won renown for exploring the limits of what the body can do, through a unique language of movement. One-act works such as Infra, Chroma and Live Fire Exercise and the magnificent full-length ballet Woolf Works combine this virtuoso style with an insatiable curiosity about the role of [More]

Carlos Acosta talks to Darcey Bussell about his 17 years with The Royal Ballet. Find out more at http://www.roh.org.uk/people/carlos-a… Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta is a Principal Guest Artist of The Royal Ballet. He has danced with many of the leading ballet companies in the world. He joined The Royal Ballet in 1998 and became a Principal Guest Artist in 2003. His many roles for the Company include Siegfried (Swan Lake), Albrecht (Giselle), The Prince (The Nutcracker), Des Grieux (Manon), Prince Florimund (The Sleeping Beauty), Basilio (Don Quixote) and Apollo. His staging of Don Quixote, his first for The Royal Ballet, [More]

Sarah Lamb as Alice and Federico Bonelli as Jack/Knave of Hearts in The Royal Ballet’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Find out more at http://www.roh.org.uk/alice Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland arrived on the stage in 2011 with a burst of colour, theatrical magic and inventive choreography. It was The Royal Ballet’s first new full-length work since 1995 and was greeted with delight by audiences. Joby Talbot’s score combines contemporary soundworlds with sweeping melodies that gesture to ballet scores of the 19th century. Bob Crowley’s wildly imaginative sets and costumes draw on puppetry, projections and masks to make Wonderland wonderfully real. [More]

Federico Bonelli as Romeo and Lauren Cuthbertson as Juliet perform the Balcony pas de deux in Kenneth MacMillan’s Royal Ballet production of Romeo and Juliet. Find out more: http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/rom… Kenneth MacMillan brings a contemporary interpretation to Sergei Prokofiev’s classic score. His version of the ballet draws out the emotional and psychological intensity at the heart of the tale. Romeo and Juliet contains three passionate pas de deux: from the lovers’ first meeting and the famous balcony scene to the devastating final tragedy. The lovers’ story is set against a wonderful evocation of 16th-century Verona: a bustling market place erupts into [More]