More great ballet news with the hugely anticipated return of English National Ballet to the stage!
We’re so excited that English National Ballet will perform Nutcracker Delights at the London Coliseum this Christmas (3 December–3 January 2021) and Reunion: An Evening with English National Ballet at Sadler’s Wells (19-21 November 2020).
Nutcracker Delights is a special version of the family favourite, that sees the company perform a selection of the ballet’s most popular moments and iconic scenes accompanied by Tchaikovsky’s famous score.
Reunion: An Evening with English National Ballet presents five world premieres, originally commissioned as creations for camera as part of ENB’s upcoming digital season and now also adapted for the stage. The new works have been choreographed by some of the most exciting dance makers working today: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Russell Maliphant, Yuri Possokhov, Arielle Smith, and Stina Quagebeur.
Tamara Rojo CBE, English National Ballet’s Artistic Director said: “English National Ballet has performed a version of The Nutcracker every year since we were founded in 1950 and I’m so pleased that, despite the challenges faced, we have been able to find a way for the tradition to live on, in this, our 70th Anniversary year. It’s more important than ever that we are able to bring audiences some festive joy this Christmas.”
“After what will be nearly 9 months without performing in theatres, I am thrilled that English National Ballet is going to be back on stage with a live audience this winter. It’s been wonderful to see our studios back in action for the creation of these five exciting new works and we can’t wait to share them with our audiences.”
Reunion:An Evening with English National Ballet programme includes:
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Laid in Earth is a “torn apart” quartet, set to Purcell’s famous aria from Dido and Aeneas – sung live by mezzo soprano Flora McIntosh, as well as new electronic music by Olga Wojciechowska.
Russell Maliphant creates ever shifting choreography and uses light as an integral partner in the creative process. He collaborates on this project with video artist Panagiotis Tomaras and with commissioned sound design by Dana Fouras.
A former principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, world-renowned choreographer Yuri Possokhov works with a UK company for the first time. His piece for four dancers, Senseless Kindness, is based on Vasily Grossman’s great novel, Life and Fate, about a Russian family caught in the Second World War and is set to Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No1.
In Take Five Blues, ENB’s Associate Choreographer, Stina Quagebeur, responds to two of her favourite pieces of music, Bach’s Vivace and Paul Desmond’s jazz standard, Take Five.
Arielle Smith’s Jolly Folly is fast-paced, surprising, and energetic and is driven by the Klazz Brothers’ latin-infused covers of Tchaikovsky, Strauss and Mozart.