Echoing its namesake’s celebration of innovation and creativity, ‘Cool Britannia’ offers a dynamic exploration of British dance through provocative new voices:
Chroma by Wayne McGregor: This groundbreaking ballet is “a shock to the system” merging cutting-edge choreography with a rhythmic complexity rock-inspired score by Joby Talbot and The White Stripes’ Jack White III, for a vibrant, visceral experience.
Within the Golden Hour by Christopher Wheeldon: A visually atmospheric ballet that blends elegant choreography with a luminous score, offering a captivating journey through light, color, and sensory richness.
Dust by Akram Khan: A one-act ballet offers a dramatic exploration of the human experience amidst the haunting backdrop of post-World War I. This is a North American premiere.
«L’histoire de Manon», generally referred to as «Manon», is a three-act ballet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan to music by Jules Massenet and based on the 1731 novel Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost. The ballet was first performed by The Royal Ballet in London in 1974 with Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell in the leading roles.
MacMillan was quoted as saying that he found his clue to Manon’s behaviour in her background of poverty: ‘Manon is not so much afraid of being poor as ashamed of being poor. Poverty in that period was the equivalent of long, slow death’. Nicholas Georgiadis’s designs reflect the precarious division between opulence and degradation in pre-Revolutionary France. (The ballet is set later in the 18th century than Prévost’s novel.) Tiers of rags drape the background in the first two acts, half-hidden behind the architectural sets. Demi-monde characters flaunt their finery while beggars, thieves and prostitutes ply their trades.
Tamara Rojo has created a new version of the iconic ballet, Raymonda that will be performed by the San Francisco Ballet from March 1 to 8, 2025.
Raymonda is a grand ballet in three acts, four scenes with an apotheosis, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Alexander Glazunov (his opus 57) and libretto by Lydia Pashkova.
Set against the backdrop of the 19th-century Crimean War, Rojo expertly draws on the figure of Florence Nightingale to create a Raymonda who redefines the role of women in wartime and society…
Tamara Rojo comments on the most unique aspects of this new version of Raymonda
New score, adapted from Adolphe Adam original by composer Vincenzo Lamagna.
Set and costumes by Tim Yip.
Performed by English National Ballet Philharmonic. Music director; Gavin Sutherland.
Dramaturgy; Ruth Little. Lighting design; Mark Henderson.
“When I decided I wanted to bring Giselle, one of the most traditional pieces of the classical repertoire, into the 21st Century there was only one choreographer I believe had both the knowledge of tradition and creativity necessary for this task. I am incredibly excited that Akram accepted this challenge. I believe this will be a very important step for the whole art form and I hope it will make this beautiful classic relevant to new audiences.” Tamara Rojo, Artistic Director, English National Ballet.
Modern Masters honours the work of three of the most influential and creative choreographers of the 20th Century, and brings two new works to English National Ballet’s repertoire. PETITE MORT
Created in 1991, Ji?í Kylián’s poetic piece, features six men, six women, and six fencing foils, symbolising energy, silence and sexuality. Performed to the slow movements of two Mozart Piano Concerti, the foils slowly become dancing partners, as the brutality of everyday life is revealed. Petite Mort is a quintessential Kylián masterwork, loved by our audience and our dancers when we performed it last year. SPRING AND FALL
In the same year that Petite Mort was premiered, Hamburg Ballet’s John Neumeier, a new master of narrative and dramatic ballet, created Spring and Fall. Set to the Dvo?ák’s Serenade for Strings in E Major, it is a work for two couples and corps de ballet and takes its narrative from the tension in the music. Spring and Fall is not in the repertoire of any other UK company. IN THE MIDDLE, SOMEWHAT ELEVATED
With In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, William Forsythe started a completely new school of choreography, deconstructing classical ballet and liberating a new generation of classical dancers to show off their abilities. Set against a bare stage it is danced by nine individuals culminating in a fierce display of technical and physical wizardry.
Tamara Rojo in Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan
Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan is a ballet solo choreographed by Frederick Ashton to music by Johannes Brahms, inspired by Isadora Duncan and created for Lynn Seymour. Tamara Rojo in the role filmed in 2004.
‘Tamara Rojo poured heart and soul into it (‘Isadora’); and Isabel McMeekan, the second Isadora, was every bit her equal. They wrenched at your heart in the episode of the appalling drowning of her two children..‘
