Saisons Russes Du XX1e Siècle productions are some of the most beautiful presentations to be seen in Moscow, Paris and London. They return to the UK with three programmes of performances.

Cleopatra – Ida Rubinstein
An original idea by Andris Liepa this exquisite production recounts the story of the creation of Fokine’s ballet Cleopatra, for Ida Rubinstein in 1909. Choreographer Patrick de Bana makes some great choreography in this new ballet, and has chosen music by composers including Glazunov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel and the wonderful music of new composer Omar Faruk Tekbilek. The world premiere was staged on 28th June 2012 at Paris Champs-Elysees Theatre to press reviews of ‘beautiful’ ‘interesting’ ‘wonderful’ ‘great work in the choreography’ ‘a real study of Egyptian style’.

Chopiniana
In 1909 Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, and Vaslav Nijinsky conquered Paris in this Romantic one-act ballet then entitled Les Sylphides. Consisting of four scenes to the music of a polonaise, nocturne, mazurka and tarantella by Glazunov, the ballet has no plot, but conveys the mood of reverie and melancholy between dream and reality of a young poet in the world of the Sylphides.

Polovetsian Dances
The Polovetsian Dances, a ballet excerpt from Alexander Borodin’s opera Prince Igor, was one of the highlights of the first Ballets Russes Paris season making its 1909 premiere at Theatre du Chatelet. A one-act ballet choreographed by Michel Fokine, slave-girls and warriors perform the celebratory dances of Khan Konchak’s nomadic tribe.