CINDERELLA
Premiered: May 25th 2022 by the Royal Swedish Ballet at Kungliga Operan, Stockholm.
More than an update, with her version of Cinderella, Tamara Rojo elevates classical dance to narrative splendour through virtuosity.
Synopsis:
Cinderella is washed up alone in a Stockholm port. She is immediately taken to an orphanage where she ends up at the bottom of the pecking order. A cook, a cleaner and a kind housekeeper become her friends. When the dull jury of the big dance contest rejects Cinderella at her first audition because her style is too bold and explosive, she gets help from her friends. Cinderella must qualify! But will she make it to the competition in time? And will she be reunited with her family? She misses them so much.
CHOREOGRAPHY: Tamara Rojo
MUSIC: Sergei Prokofiev
CONDUCTOR: Gavin Sutherland, David Björkman, Ewa Strusi?ska
SET DESIGN: Christian Lacroix & Tobias Rylander
COSTUMES: Christian Lacroix
LIGHT & VIDEO: Tobias Rylander
DRAMATURGE: Lucinda Coxon
Sergey Prokofiev’s Cinderella was first performed by the Bolshoi ballet in 1945. This entirely new production was created especially for the Royal Swedish Ballet by Tamara Rojo, artistic director of the English National Ballet. The colourful costumes by fashion icon Christian Lacroix and famous music by Prokofiev make for a vibrant evening of dance for the whole family.
A RENOVATED AND FLASHING VERSION OF RAYMONDA
In January 2022, the English National Ballet presented a new version of Raymonda ballet choreographed by Tamara Rojo at the London Coliseum. Contrary to the original version of Marius Petipa that placed the plot in The Crusades, Rojo has relocated the story to the 19th-century Crimean War, drawing on the figure of Florence Nightingale to create a Raymonda who redefines the role of women in wartime and society. This Raymonda is not content to stay at home and sew, so she hot-foots it from England across the Black Sea to Sevastopol. There, she tends to injured soldiers, and is reacquainted with John de Bryan, a family friend, who has joined the Light Brigade. As he leaves for battle, he persuades Raymonda to accept his hand in marriage. His friend, Abdur Rhaman, an ally from the Ottoman army, promises to take care of Raymonda until de Bryan returns.

Direction and Choreography, Designer – Antony McDonald, Lighting – Mark Henderson, Video Designer – Alexander Gunnarsson, English National Ballet, London Coliseum, 2022, Credit: Johan Persson