Royal Ballet Connections
On the occasion of The Royal Ballet’s Pillow debut, this playlist documents some of the common histories between these two venerable institutions—including glimpses of the company’s exclusive 2024 engagement.
Next:
The Royal Ballet
Figures in a Landscape, 2024
This world premiere by Sir Wayne McGregor (knighted just before this engagement) was created to commemorate the auspicious Pillow debut of The Royal Ballet, featuring the literal landscape as seen through the stage doors of the Ted Shawn Theatre.
Next:
The Royal Ballet
After the Rain, 2024
Christopher Wheeldon’s exquisite duet had been seen at the Pillow only once before this extraordinary performance, marking the homecoming of Boston-born Royal Ballet Principal Sarah Lamb.
Next:
The Royal Ballet
Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan, 2024
Former Bolshoi ballerina Natalia Osipova performed at the Pillow only on opening night of The Royal Ballet’s engagement, but her radiant interpretation of Frederick Ashton’s tribute to Isadora Duncan will never be forgotten.
Next:
Dance Theatre of Harlem
This Bitter Earth, 2023
Christopher Wheeldon is billed as Artistic Associate at The Royal Ballet, and his duet seen here is excerpted from a larger work entitled Five Movements, Three Repeats.
Next:
Miami City Ballet
Carousel Pas de Deux, 2017
The Royal Ballet’s Principal Choreographer, Kenneth MacMillan, choreographed an award-winning revival of Carousel just before his death in 1992, and this pas de deux has since transitioned to the concert stage.
Next:
Miami City Ballet
Polyphonia, 2017
When Christopher Wheeldon created Polyphonia for New York City Ballet in 2001, it was considered to be his breakthrough work.
Next:
New York Theatre Ballet
Dark Elegies, 2016
Antony Tudor performed with The Vic-Wells Ballet in 1932, more than twenty years before the company received its royal charter and became known as The Royal Ballet. Acknowledged as one of Tudor’s masterworks, Dark Elegies premiered when he was only 29 years old.
Next:
The Sarasota Ballet
Monotones I, 2015
The Royal Ballet’s Founder Choreographer, Frederick Ashton, was inspired to create this work after seeing Merce Cunningham’s Cross Currents.
Next:
New York Theatre Ballet
Trio Con Brio, 2015
This revival of Antony Tudor’s uncharacteristically classical Trio Con Brio was made possible because the work was filmed when it premiered at the Pillow in 1952.
Next:
Nina Ananiashvili and the State Ballet of Georgia
Thaïs Pas de Deux, 2010
Originally titled Meditation from Thaïs, this 1971 ballet by Frederick Ashton was created for The Royal Ballet’s Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell.
Next:
Jacoby & Pronk
Rhapsody Fantaisie, 2010
Christopher Wheeldon created this work for his own company in 2009, and the full work features six couples.
Next:
Julie Kent & Robert Hill
Manon (Scene from Act I), 1999
Kenneth MacMillan was director of The Royal Ballet when he created Manon in 1974, and the full-evening ballet remains in the repertories of companies around the world.
Next:
Richard Cragun
Requiem, 1983
Created by Kenneth MacMillan as a tribute to his friend, Stuttgart Ballet director John Cranko (who was killed in a plane crash at age 45), Requiem was made on some of Cranko’s leading dancers, including Richard Cragun.
Next:
Johan Renvall & Madeleine Onne
Little Improvisations, 1983
Antony Tudor created this charmingly intimate work in 1951 at the Pillow, where it was first danced by Yvonne Chouteau and Gilbert Reed.
Next:
Center Ballet of Buffalo
Les Biches, 1969
The works of Bronislava Nijinska found homes both at The Royal Ballet and at the Pillow, and Les Biches is one example of a work presented both in London and in Becket. The leading role was danced here by Anna-Marie Holmes, longtime director of the Ballet Program in The School at Jacob’s Pillow.
Next:
Ballet Rambert
Gala Performance, 1959
This work by Antony Tudor was included in the repertory of Ballet Rambert when the company made its U.S. debut at the Pillow in 1959, performed here on a stage not much larger than their home at London’s Mercury Theatre.
Next:
National Ballet of Canada
Lilac Garden (Jardin aux Lilas), 1953
This classic work by Antony Tudor was premiered by Ballet Rambert in 1936. Tudor would later create two ballets especially for The Royal Ballet in the 1960s.
Next:
Tatiana Grantzeva, Nicholas Polajenko, Ralph McWilliams
Trio Con Brio, 1952
Antony Tudor originally used a pseudonym (“Vispitin”) to identify the choreographer of this classical showpiece when it was first seen at the Pillow in 1952, but he claimed it as his own work when it was later performed that same season.
Explore Playlists
Alicia Markova
Sugar Plum Fairy variation from The Nutcracker, 1941
One of the founding members of The Royal Ballet’s forerunner, the Vic-Wells Ballet, Alicia Markova co-directed Jacob’s Pillow with Anton Dolin in 1941, the summer when this film was made. (For more on this pivotal season, see Caroline Hamilton’s online essay, When the Ballet Came to Jacob’s Pillow.)