Claire Calvert

The ROH Live: The Dream / Symphonic Variations / Marguerite and Armand

The Dream: Frederick Ashton’s delightful interpretation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a classic of The Royal Ballet’s repertory. Symphonic Variations: Ashton was inspired to create a ballet on the four seasons – but as he began to choreograph he refined and purified until the ballet shook off its original meaning, emerging as an abstract celebration of movement and physicality. Marguerite and Armand: Marguerite, a Parisian courtesan, lies on her deathbed. She recalls her tragic love affair with Armand in a series of feverish flashbacks.

The Sleeping Beauty

The Sleeping Beauty holds a special place in The Royal Ballet’s repertory. It was the ballet with which the Company reopened the Royal Opera House in 1946 after World War II, its first production at its new home in Covent Garden. Margot Fonteyn danced the role of the beautiful Princess Aurora in the first performance, with Robert Helpmann as Prince Florimund. Sixty years later, in 2006, the original 1946 staging was revived by then Director of The Royal Ballet Monica Mason and Christopher Newton, returning Oliver Messel’s wonderful designs and glittering costumes to the stage.

The Nutcracker

The young Clara creeps downstairs on Christmas Eve to play with her favourite present – a Nutcracker. But the mysterious magician Drosselmeyer is waiting to sweep her off on a magical adventure. After defeating the Mouse King, the Nutcracker and Clara travel through the Land of Snow to the Kingdom of Sweets, where the Sugar Plum Fairy treats them to a wonderful display of dances. Back home, Clara thinks she must have been dreaming – but doesn’t she recognize Drosselmeyer’s nephew?

Royal Opera House: The Sleeping Beauty

The wicked fairy Carabosse is furious she wasn’t invited to Princess Aurora’s christening. She gives the baby a spindle, saying that one day the Princess will prick her finger on it and die. The Lilac Fairy makes her own christening gift a softening of Carabosse’s curse: Aurora will not die, but will fall into a deep sleep, which only a prince’s kiss will break. The masterful 19th-century choreography of Marius Petipa is combined with sections created for The Royal Ballet by Frederick Ashton, Anthony Dowell and Christopher Wheeldon. Recorded live as part of the Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season 2019/20 with encore screenings broadcast online during the #OurHousetoYourHouse programme.

Apollo/ Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux/ Dances at a Gathering

The rich history of American ballet is celebrated in classic works by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, two choreographic giants of the 20th century. Apollo brought Balanchine together for the first time with composer Igor Stravinsky. Their creation for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1928 remains a masterpiece of neoclassicism in its striking depiction of the young god of music and his three muses. Balanchine’s effervescent Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux breathes life into a long-lost movement from Tchaikovsky’s original score for Swan Lake. Created in 1960 for virtuoso New York City Ballet dancers Violette Verdy and Conrad Ludlow, its thrilling technical challenges are still relished by performers today.

The Sleeping Beauty

Lauren Cuthbertson, Sergei Polunin and Claire Calvert star in this true gem from the classical ballet repertory, set to Tchaikovsky's glorious music.

The Dream (Royal Ballet)

Magic and misadventure abound in this reimagining of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Romeo and Juliet

Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé star in this 20th-century ballet masterpiece, brought to life by Prokofiev’s ravishing score and Kenneth MacMillan's evocative and detailed choreography.

Royal Opera House: The Sleeping Beauty

The ROH Live: Jewels

Now celebrating its 50th year, George Balanchine’s sparkling ballet still shines with all the brilliance of the gemstones that inspired it.