Sneak peek at tonight’s MacMillan programme with The Royal Ballet in The Judas Tree and English National Ballet in Song of the Earth
The Royal Ballet and English National Ballet present two of Kenneth MacMillan‘s most complex and important works, in the second programme of Kenneth MacMillan: a National Celebration. Two nights only – tonight, 24 October (Lauren Cuthbertson, Thiago Soares, Edward Watson, Reece Clarke and Artists of the two companies), and 1 November (Melissa Hamilton, Bennet Gartside, Matthew Ball, Calvin Richardson).
British choreographer Kenneth MacMillan transformed ballet, through an extraordinary career that expanded the boundaries of the art form. To mark the 25th anniversary of his death The Royal Ballet celebrates his remarkable work with three mixed programmes that bring together the UK’s five leading ballet companies. In the second of these programmes, The Royal Ballet and English National Ballet dance two adult and complex works that show MacMillan at his most searching and ambitious.
The Royal Ballet dances The Judas Tree, created in 1992. It was MacMillan’s final ballet and is still his most controversial. It returns to themes that occupied MacMillan throughout his career – an exploration of collective guilt, and the violent consequences of a rule of fear.
Song of the Earth from 1965, danced by English National Ballet, meditates on ideas of love, loss and renewal, to Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. At its premiere it was acclaimed as a masterpiece, and remains one of MacMillan’s most powerful and beautiful ballets.
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.
