The Royal Ballet's 2007/8 season has been announced, and includes a new production of George Balanchine's Jewels. The season also contains the revival of the Laurence Olivier Award-winning piece Chroma and new work by Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor, Christopher Wheeldon and Kim Brandstrup.
Balanchine's Jewels plays in November and December 2007. The piece, originally created in 1967 for New York City Ballet, comprises three distinct ballets. Each features a score by a different composer, evokes its own mood and is named after a precious stone. November also sees the world premiere of a short new work by McGregor, which is presented as part of the gala A World Stage At Covent Garden.
Wheeldon's new one-act ballet, his fourth for the Royal Ballet, is premiered alongside Afternoon Of A Faun and A Month In The Country in February 2008. Danish choreographer Brandstrup's new piece, his first to be staged by the Royal Ballet on the main stage of the Royal Opera House, is seen in April and May as part of a triple bill with Serenade and Homage To The Queen.
In February 2008, the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award-winner for Best New Dance Production, Chroma, is revived alongside Kenneth Macmillan's Different Drummer and The Rite Of Spring. In addition to winning a Laurence Olivier Award, Chroma, which is a physically challenging piece set to the music of Joby Talbot and the White Stripes, also won the 2007 South Bank Show Award for Dance. Different Drummer is Macmillan's adaptation of the story of Woyzeck, the tale of a broken man who can see only one solution to his problems.
In addition to The Nutcracker, Christmas sees the Royal Ballet staging a double bill of Frederick Ashton's work, Les Patineurs and Tales Of Beatrix Potter. The pieces are taken from either end of Ashton's career. Early work Les Patineurs is a seasonal tale of skaters that combines clever choreography with wit and humour. Late piece Tales Of Beatrix Potter was originally created as a ballet film in 1971 and follows a host of Potter's most famous characters.
The Royal Ballet season opens with La Bayadère and Romeo And Juliet in October. The new year sees the revival of Ashton's Sylvia, while Marius Petipa's The Sleeping Beauty is revived in March. The season is rounded off in May with a double bill presenting Ashton's The Dream – based on A Midsummer Night's Dream – alongside Jerome Robbins's Dances At A Gathering. New work by members of the Royal Ballet will be showcased in both the Clore and Linbury Studios.
Ballet lovers who cannot get to the Royal Opera House will have a chance to experience a performance of Swan Lake when it is broadcast on huge screens around the country on 31 May as part of BP Summer Big Screens 2007.
MA