The Bolshoi Ballet: The Nutcracker

Eugen Suchoň's ballet Angelika is historically the first Slovak ballet in staged form, depicting the story of a musically gifted but poor and underestimated girl who is wrongly accused of theft. In the 2014/2015 season, the SND Ballet undertook the staging of the first Slovak ballet. Composer Eugen Suchoň (1908 - 1993), one of the founders of Slovak musical modernism, wrote the ballet pantomime Angelika for Slovakia as a seventeen-year-old pupil of the Music School. The work was found in the composer's estate along with other compositions from the so-called pre-Opus period. Mauro di Candia, who choreographed and directed the first staging of Suchoň's work, presents the staging concept of the ballet Angelika as an original, precise and pure ballet form within a contemporary choreographic language, combined with the musical elements of Suchoň's melodic score.

Whirlwinds, burning forests, erased cities – the centuries-old artworks housed in the Louvre strongly resonate with our present time. Forêt follows a new generation of Rosas dancers moving amidst these artworks, bridging past and present. Choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Némo Flouret in 2022, the performance was designed for the Louvre’s Grande Galerie and its famed 'red rooms,' home to Italian masterpieces and 19th-century French Romantic art. Evi Cats captured this performance, with a camera that moves almost imperceptibly between the dancers and the audience, alternating between intimate close-ups and wide shots of the imposing scenery.

When rebellious street dancer Andie West lands at the elite Maryland School of the Arts, she finds herself fighting to fit in while also trying to hold onto her old life. When she joins forces with the school's hottest dancer, Chase Collins, to form a crew of fellow outcasts to compete in Baltimore's underground dance battle The Streets.

Peer Gynt

Dance film inspired by the life and work of the artists Camille Claudel and Auguste Rodin.

The Mother is a powerful, narrative dance production choreographed and directed by Arthur Pita - a master storyteller. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s dark tale, The Story of a Mother, this sumptuously designed production stars international dance superstar Natalia Osipova and multi-award winning dancer Jonathan Goddard. This is an inventive new production which conjures up a dangerous, kaleidoscopic world, combining narrative dance and drama. In setting out to save her sick child a young mother journeys into the unknown to face life and death. Will she succumb to the forces of evil, or will the power of motherhood prevail?

Ten short pieces directed by ten different directors, including Ken Russell, Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Altman, Bruce Beresford, and Nicolas Roeg. Each short uses an aria as soundtrack/sound, and is an interpretation of the particular aria.

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

"Prima" follows Margo, a dedicated prima ballerina raised by her disciplinarian and “guardian of the art” grandmother, who begins to unravel when the head of her ballet company marries a contemporary choreographer, disrupting the company’s tradition and igniting a quiet, atmospheric power struggle that threatens the very future of the institution. As events unfold, Margo begins to question if the choices made in life are really worth it in the end, a question so many face as difficult decisions can change your life forever.

Giselle is the quintessential Romantic ballet. Its title role, one of the most technically demanding and emotionally challenging in the classical repertory, is here danced by Alina Cojocaru, partnered by Johan Kobborg as Count Albrecht. This tale of the transcendental power of love over death is evocatively portrayed through Peter Wright’s sensitive staging and John Macfarlane’s designs, which beautifully contrast the human and supernatural worlds – mastered from a High Definition recording and true surround sound. Conductor : Boris Gruzin Orchestra : The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

This delightful ballet tells the story of Dr Coppelius, an eccentric toymaker, who attempts to bring life to his beautiful doll Coppélia. He is foiled by the mischevious Swanilda, who masquerades as Coppélia and saves her love, Franz, from the Doctor's magic. Recorded live at the Sydney Opera House, this acclaimed production by Dame Peggy van Praagh, the founding Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet, is a triumph.

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 peasant girl Giselle discovers the true identity of her lover Albrecht – and that he is promised to another. Giselle kills herself. Her soul enters the ranks of the Wilis – shades of young women who died before their wedding day. All men that come across their path are compelled to dance themselves to death, and Albrecht falls into their trap. Giselle’s intercession saves Albrecht and releases her soul from the Wilis’ power.

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?

A dramatic, energetic adaptation of Heinz Spoerli's ballet based on Grieg's Peer Gynt by the Zurich ballet. Marijn Rademaker is excellent as the title character, clearly telegraphing the emotional range required. Each of the characters and the dramatic scenes are supported by the orchestral passages and songs provided by Grieg; some spoken word passages extracted from the Ibsen play.

This recording of all six cantatas from the Salle Henry Le Bœuf in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Belgium, in December 2012 features internationally renowned Bach expert Philippe Herreweghe and the Collegium Vocale Gent.

A well-composed psychological dance drama of a completely different kind from the usual romantic and sometimes superficial ballets. And an intrusive interpretation of August Strindberg's play.

Jerome Robbins considered the Paris Opera Ballet as his second home after the New York City Ballet. This production in his honour brings together works displaying the infinite diversity of his sources of inspiration and his genius on stage. Be it in the energy of the large-scale Glass Pieces or the intimate sweetness of Afternoon of a Faun and A Suite of Dances, there emerges that rare capacity to make bodies follow the flow in a living comprehension of music. As the celebrated ballet Fancy Free, a veritable theatrical portrait of an era, enters the repertoire, Robbins reveals another facet of his talent.

The extraordinary life of Carla Fracci, the greatest Italian ballerina of all time, told from her first steps at the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala in Milan to the stages of the most prestigious international theaters, passing through the controversial choices, difficult sacrifices, and important satisfactions that marked her rise. Freely inspired by the autobiography “Passo dopo passo – La mia storia” (Step by Step – My Story).

After his crew breaks up, a gifted but insecure hip-hop dancer teaches at a top ballet school in Paris, where he falls for an aspiring ballerina.