• The Royal Ballet School announces details of this year’s Summer Season at the Linbury Studio Theatre and on the main stage of the Royal Opera House from Wednesday 29 June – Friday 8 July.
• Summer Season 2011 commemorates ten years since the death of Dame Ninette de Valois and features her 1936 classic Checkmate together with works by Sir Frederick Ashton, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, David Bintley, John Cranko and John Neumeier.
• The climax of the Summer Season is the end of year performance on the main stage of the Royal Opera House on Friday 8 July at 7.30pm, culminating in the spectacular Grand Défilé featuring more than 200 students in an exuberant finale.
The Royal Ballet School’s annual Summer Season opens with five performances at the Linbury Studio Theatre from Wednesday 29 June – Saturday 2 July and culminates with the end of year performance on the main stage of the Royal Opera House on Friday 8 July at 7.30pm.
The programme for this year’s Summer Season has been devised to commemorate ten years since the death of The Royal Ballet School’s founder, Dame Ninette de Valois, and includes one performance only of Checkmate on the main stage of the Royal Opera House on 8 July.
Checkmate was created by de Valois and composer Arthur Bliss and is widely considered to be de Valois’ signature ballet as well as one of the great cornerstones of the British ballet repertoire. A masterpiece of neo-classical ballet, Checkmate is a dramatic, stirring work and sees the stage transformed into a massive chessboard. The ballet was first performed by the Vic-Wells Ballet at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées, Paris on 15 June, 1937 with its British premiere a few months later on 15 October at Sadler’s Wells.
The Summer Season also features important heritage works created by choreographers who were taught and influenced by de Valois: Sir Frederick Ashton’s Monotones 2, Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s The Four Seasons, David Bintley’s En Bateau, John Neumeier’s Spring & Fall, and John Cranko’s Opus 1.
The new generation of choreographers is represented by Liam Scarlett, a former student of The Royal Ballet School and First Artist with The Royal Ballet. His Danse Bohémienne will also be performed during the Summer Season.
Director of The Royal Ballet School, Gailene Stock AM comments:
‘Since it was founded by Ninette de Valois in 1926, The Royal Ballet School has been committed to identifying and developing choreographic talent in its students. In this tenth year since her death, we are proud to be presenting a wide range of works which embody this philosophy and illuminate the extent of the influence de Valois had on her protégés.
The Summer Season programme represents both a tremendous opportunity to engage our students in the choreographic language of their School’s past and a rare opportunity for the public to appreciate our rich choreographic heritage’.
The programme for the Summer Season will also include works created especially for the students by their teachers as well as new pieces choreographed by students, together with national dances and excerpts from the classical repertoire.
The Summer Season is brought to a spectacular climax on 8 July with the breathtaking display of more than 200 students filling the stage of the Royal Opera House in the exuberant and fast-moving Grand Défilé.
The Royal Ballet School Summer Season 2011 is generously sponsored by Imagination
PROGRAMME INFORMATION
THE ROYAL BALLET SCHOOL - SUMMER SEASON 2011
Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House
Wednesday 29 June, Thursday 30 June, Friday 1 July at 7.30pm
Saturday 2 July at 2.30pm and 7.30pm
Box Office: +44 (0)20 7304 4000
www.roh.org.uk
LIBNURY PROGRAMME INCLUDES A SELECTION FROM
Danse Bohémienne
Choreography: Liam Scarlett
Music: Georges Bizet, La jolie fille de Perth
En Bateau
Choreography: David Bintley
Music: Claude Debussy
Monotones 2
Choreography: Frederick Ashton
Music: Erik Satie, Trois Gymnopédies
The Four Seasons (excerpt)
Choreography: Kenneth MacMillan
Music: Giuseppe Verdi, various
Sponsored by Nicolas & Jane Ferguson
Spring & Fall
Choreography: John Neumeier
Music: Antonin Dvorak, Serenade for Strings
Sponsored by Timothy & Madeleine Plaut and Isabelle Ross
Opus 1
Choreography: John Cranko
Music: Anton Webern, Passacaglia
Sponsored by Nigel and Candida Hurst-Brown
The Nutcracker - The Waltz of the Flowers
Choreography: Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov.
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake – Act 1 pas de quatre
Choreography: Frederick Ashton after Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov.
Choreography by Royal Ballet School students and staff
National and folk dances
ROYAL OPERA HOUSE - MAIN STAGE
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (main stage):
End of year performance
Friday 8 July at 7.30pm
Box Office: +44 (0)20 7304 4000
www.roh.org.uk
ROYAL OPERA HOUSE MAIN STAGE PROGRAMME INCLUDES
Checkmate
Choreography: Ninette de Valois
Music: Arthur Bliss
Sponsored by International Dance Supplies
En Bateau
Choreography: David Bintley
Music: Claude Debussy
Monotones 2
Choreography: Frederick Ashton
Music: Erik Satie, Trois Gymnopédies
The Four Seasons (excerpt)
Choreography: Kenneth MacMillan
Music: Giuseppe Verdi, various
Sponsored by Nicolas & Jane Ferguson
Spring & Fall
Choreography: John Neumeier
Music: Antonin Dvorak, Serenade for Strings
Sponsored by Timothy & Madeleine Plaut and Isabelle Ross
Opus 1
Choreography: John Cranko
Music: Anton Webern, Passacaglia
Sponsored by Nigel and Candida Hurst-Brown
Danse Bohémienne
Choreography: Liam Scarlett
Music: Georges Bizet, La jolie fille de Perth
Grand Défilé
Choreography: Teachers of The Royal Ballet School
Music: Karl Czerny, Études arranged and orchestrated by Knudåge Riisager