Royal Ballet announces new details about its new Hofesh Shechter ballet

The new ballet by Hofesh Shechter for The Royal Ballet, which can be seen from 27 March until 14 April with Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments and MacMillan’s Song of the Earth, still has no title, but it will feature the entire company. Shechter, who is renowned for his unique style of contemporary dance, is creating his first ever work on a classical company.

The Royal Ballet’s director Kevin O’Hare, said,

Having closely followed Hofesh’s career and enjoyed his electrifying work for his own company for over a decade it is now very exciting to be able to welcome him to The Royal Ballet. I look forward to seeing how his unique choreography will combine with the talents of our dancers in this new work.

Shechter, an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells with past works for his own company which include the Critics’ Circle Award winning In Your Rooms, realises that O’Hare has made a brave choice:

I’m grateful for Kevin O’Hare‘s leap of faith. When he said “Let’s just do it”, we dived into unknown territory and that’s often the most exciting place to create new work. The idea of making a new work on new territory however doesn’t mean that I leave my own politics (with a small p!) behind – it may be lurking in the shadows but it’s always there.

Shechter’s celebrated style of ensemble group performance is seen here as an ‘exploration of tribal energy through an ocean of dancers’ and is set to an original composition created by Shechter with his long-term collaborator Nell Catchpole, together with designs by Holly Waddington and lighting by Lee Curran.

27, 30 March, 8, 10, 14 April at 7:30pm

CASTING

THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS

Choreography George Balanchine
Music Paul Hindemith
Lighting design John B Read

27 March Steven McRae*, Natalia Osipova*, Federico Bonelli, Edward Watson, Zenaida Yanowsky

30 March Vadim Muntagirov*, Natalia Osipova Federico Bonelli, Eric Underwood, Tierney Heap

8 / 10 April Steven McRae, Sarah Lamb, Matthew Golding, Edward Watson, Zenaida Yanowsky

14 April Vadim Muntagirov, Sarah Lamb, Matthew Golding, Eric Underwood, Tierney Heap

NEW HOFESH SHECHTER

Choreography Hofesh Shechter
Music Hofesh Shechter and Nell Catchpole
Designs Holly Waddington
Lighting design Lee Curran

27 / 30 March / 8 / 10 April The Company

SONG OF THE EARTH

Choreography Kenneth MacMillan
Music Gustav Mahler
Designs Nicholas Georgiadis
Lighting design John B Read
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

27 March / 8 / 10 April Marianela Nuñez, Thiago Soares*, Carlos Acosta

30 March / 14 April Laura Morera, Nehemiah Kish, Steven McRae*

*Role Debut

LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE

Frederick Ashton
Conductor: Barry Wordsworth

16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29 April; 5†May at 7.30pm; 26 April at 3pm; 2 May at 2pm and 7pm
†Live cinema broadcast

Ashton’s production of La Fille mal gardée returns to the Royal Opera house from Thursday 16 April 2015. Natalia Osipova makes her début as Lise and debuting as Colas are Vadim Muntagirov, Valentino Zucchetti and Alexander Campbell. La Fille mal gardée is part of the ROH Live Cinema Season and will be screened on Tuesday 5 May.

Choreography Frederick Ashton

Music Ferdinand Hérold, arranged and orchestrated by John Lanchbery
Conductor Barry Wordsworth
Scenario Jean Dauberval
Design Osbert Lancaster
Lighting design John B Read

CASTING
16, 24 April Lise: Laura Morera, Colas: Vadim Muntagirov
21 April / 2 (mat) May Lise: Roberta Marquez, Colas: Valentino Zucchetti*
22 / 28 April Lise: Marianela Nunez, Colas: Carlos Acosta
23 / 29 April / 5† May Lise: Natalia Osipova, Colas: Steven McRae
26 (mat) April / 2 May Lise: Yuhui Choe, Colas: Alexander Campbell

Gramilano Editor

Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.