The Sleeping Beauty (also performed as The Sleeping Princess) Often considered Marius Petipa’s masterpiece, The Sleeping Beauty, to music composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, was first performed in 1890 by…
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In 1946 the Sadler’s Wells Ballet opened their first season at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with a new production of The Sleeping Beauty. The scenery and costumes were…
First performance of The Sleeping Princess by the Vic-Wells Ballet, with choreography by Marius Petipa staged by Nicholas Sergeyev, music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and designs by Nadia Benois. The…
Timeline Event » 1932 – The Vic-Wells Ballet dances Act II of Swan Lake
This was the first performance of classical choreography by the Vic-Wells Ballet. Swan Lake is a ballet with music by Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky with choreograhy created by Marius Petipa (Acts…
Diaghilev – genius or promoter of self? In addition to being central or crucial to the history of ballet in the 20th Century, Diaghilev was also intimately involved with musical…
Marius Petipa (1822-1910) was born in Marseilles into a theatrical family. He was performing publicly at the age of nine. When he was 16 he was the premier danseur in…
Timeline Event » 1950 – Sadler’s Wells Ballet dances George Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial for the first time
Originally created for American Ballet Caravan, George Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial was performed by Sadler’s Wells Ballet for the first time at the Royal Opera House in 1950. Danced to Pyotr…
The Snow Maiden was the first Anglo-Soviet collaboration in ballet, Vladimir Bourmeister being the first Soviet choreographer to work with any Western company. It was later staged by the choreographer’s…
In 1973, Scottish Theatre Ballet presented a new production of The Nutcracker. Using Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s score, Darrell created largely new choreography, but retained the original dances by Lev Ivanov…
John Cranko created Onegin in 1965 for his company, Stuttgart Ballet, using his star dancers Marcia Haydée and Ray Barra to create the roles of Tatiana and Onegin respectively, with…
‘I have tried to capture the atmosphere and melancholy of Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece.’ So said Kenneth MacMillan in his programme note for his 1991 ballet Winter Dreams. Inspired by Chekhov’s…