In The Spirit Of Diaghilev sees four ground-breaking choreographers pay a thrilling tribute to Sergei Diaghilev’s Les Ballets Russes 100 years after the company was formed.

For In The Spirit Of Diaghilev, Sadler’s Wells has commissioned brand new works from Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Javier De Frutos, Russell Maliphant and Wayne McGregor who each created work inspired by Les Ballets Russes and its spirit of collaboration.

Each artist, working with all or part of his own company, gives their own original response to the famous challenge that Diaghilev once issued to Jean Cocteau: “Surprise me!”

Wayne McGregor: Dyad 1909
Inspired by Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition to the South Pole in 1909, the year that Les Ballets Russes was founded, McGregor creates a brand new Ballet Blanc, Dyad 1909.

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui: Faun
Cherkaoui examines the animalistic nature of human movement and the power of mythology in Faun.

Russell Maliphant: AfterLight
Using Vaslav Nijinksy’s geometric drawings and paintings as a starting point, Maliphant created a brand new work entitled AfterLight. With three dancers from the Russell Maliphant Company plus lighting and sound design from regular collaborators Michael Hulls and Andy Cowton.

Javier De Frutos: Eternal Damnation To Sancho And Sanchez
Laurence Olivier Award-winner De Frutos’s Eternal Damnation To Sancho And Sanchez is a cautionary fable inspired by Cocteau’s scenarios and designs for Les Ballets Russes and set to Maurice Ravel’s La Valse. De Frutos joins forces with theatre designer Katrina Lindsay and lighting designer Michael Hulls.

Find out more about the rich variety of West End shows on offer in Theatreland.