VIDEO: The Royal Ballet Celebrates American Choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins

The Royal Ballet celebrates the rich history of American ballet in classic works by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, two choreographic giants of the 20th century. Balanchine and Robbins open's on 4 June and is live streamed on 11 June at 7.30pm priced £16.

The programme includes two classic works by Balanchine; Apollo and Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux. Apollo was created for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1928 and is regarded as a masterpiece of neoclassicism in its striking depiction of the young god of music and his three muses. Set to music by Igor Stravinsky the ballet was last performed by The Company in 2014.

In 1960 Balanchine created Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux for New York City Ballet. The ballet is a showcase of technical challenges and bravura and is set to a long-lost movement from Tchaikovsky's original score for Swan Lake.

Jerome Robbins played a crucial role in the development of American ballet as a contemporary of Balanchine and as an influential figure in Broadway. His 1969 ballet Dances at a Gathering is an ode to pure dance, set to music by Chopin. While plotless, the intimacy of the ballet creates a powerful sense of community which promises to resonate powerfully with audiences and dancers again following its revival in 2020 just before lockdown.

This programme features a host of debuts by Royal Ballet Principals Fumi Kaneko, Yasmine Naghdi, Matthew Ball, Cesar Corrales and Vadim Muntagirov and First Soloists Claire Calvert, Melissa Hamilton, Mayara Magri, Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Reece Clarke

The event will be broadcast live via the Royal Opera House website on Friday 11 June at 7.30pm, priced at £16.00 per household and will be available to watch on demand until 10 July.

Further details here -Balanchine and Robbins - Balanchine and Robbins - Royal Opera House Stream (roh.org.uk)

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