Exactly sixty years ago, the first version of Onegin, arguably John Cranko's most famous ballet, premiered in Stuttgart. It would receive its final cut two years later, followed by international acclaim another two years after that, during a tour of the United States.
If one were to imagine a combination of particular choreographic and ballet company dance styles, one would struggle to find a more incompatible combination than the highly dramatic, expressive, and exalted Kenneth MacMillan with his opulent historical opus Mayerling.
After more than 10 years, the National Ballet of Canada came back to London with a truly national programme consisting of three Canadian choreographers of different generations – James Kudelka, Emma Portner, and Crystal Pite.
UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey is one of the latest works by the UK choreographer Wayne McGregor and his Company.
Federico Fellini's La Strada, a 1954 film, is undergoing a surprising renaissance in dance this year. Jiří Bubeníček is preparing his version for the Prague Chamber Ballet, and Alina Cojocaru has taken up the same theme in London.
For this winter season at the London Coliseum, the English National Ballet has delved into its archives and decided to stage the well-loved romantic ballet Giselle in Mary Skeaping's 1971 production.
Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky is in many ways a fascinating man. A world traveller who at the age of thirty-six became artistic director of one of the world's most prominent ballet companies, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
The last premiere of this season for the Czech National Ballet in Prague was rather unexpectedly the romantic La Sylphide. Replacing the originally intended programme of George Balanchine's Who Cares? and Brahms - Schönberg Quartet.
In the West, especially in the United States, programmes made entirely of George Balanchine's works are very common. In the Czech Republic, however, until this year no ballet company had ever staged a similarly composed evening.
Johan Kobborg, a long-time principal dancer of the Royal Danish Ballet, and especially of the Royal Ballet in London, is spending the past few weeks in Prague with the Czech National Ballet, where he is staging his production of La Sylphide, following the romantic legacy of August Bournonville.
