Wednesday 21 May 2008

19.30, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD; Box Office: 020 7304 4000

After an absence of 30 years Jerome Robbins’s great work ‘Dances at a Gathering’ makes an exciting return to The Royal Ballet. To solo piano works by Chopin, ten dancers explore the potential of dance itself through shifting relationships that also reflect the moods of the music’s mazurkas, waltzes and etudes. With virtuoso technique and individual character at the heart of its creation, every performance of Dances by The Royal Ballet will be a unique experience to savour. There’s a strong contrast in the second work of the programme, The Dream: with Shakespeare’s story of a midsummer’s night, Mendelssohn’s delightfully delicate music and Frederick Ashton’s ever-popular choreography. In its magic world of night and within its evocative woodland setting, Oberon and Titania play their games with the unwitting mortals, while the comic confusions of love are aggravated by the mischievous Puck.

Details on www.royaloperahouse.org.uk