Review: Madam – The Royal Ballet’s intimate tribute to Ninette de Valois
Curated by Lauren Cuthbertson and Kevin O’Hare, a 90-minute evening of film, memories and dance shows how much British ballet owes to Ninette de Valois.
| Title | Madam |
| Company | The Royal Ballet | The Royal Ballet School |
| Venue | Linbury Theatre, London |
| Date | 3 November 2026 |
| Reviewer | Jonathan Gray |
The Royal Ballet continued its tribute to Ninette de Valois (known to virtually everyone as ‘Madam’) this autumn with Madam, an intimate, 90-minute programme presented in the Linbury Theatre for just two performances on 3 and 4 November. In case you didn’t know already, Ninette de Valois was a dancer, teacher, choreographer and the founder director of both The Royal Ballet and The Royal Ballet School (RBS). She was an inspirational and far-sighted woman and the evening – curated with understated elegance by guest principal Lauren Cuthbertson along with The Royal Ballet’s director Kevin O’Hare and Emma Southworth, the company’s director of programming and strategy – was marvellous in how it highlighted de Valois’ importance in the establishment of what is known now as ‘British’ ballet.
Joined by students from the RBS, the evening was made up of short films, personal reminiscences, and extracts not only from the ballets choreographed by de Valois herself but works from those who followed in her footsteps, including Soren Chisholm, a pre-professional year pupil at the School. On film, the students spoke of how inspiring they found de Valois’ vision for British ballet, and their director, Iain Mackay, talked glowingly of her remarkable achievements. Wayne Sleep affectionately recalled working with de Valois on Every Goose Can, now retitled Vestris, the solo she created especially for him. Darcey Bussell remembered the strength she felt when dancing the role of the Black Queen in de Valois’ Checkmate, and Monica Mason, Antoinette Sibley and Anya Linden shared their memories of Madam with Lauren Cuthbertson over cups of tea and huge slices of cream cake.
The films were interspersed with performances, including a splendid account by the RBS of Jessica Lang’s The First Voice, danced to poems by de Valois herself that were spoken by O’Hare, Mason and Bussell, followed by Chisholm’s promising Peace with Honour. Dancers of The Royal Ballet were seen in tantalising glimpses from some of the works created by Madam, including Nadia Mullova-Barley and Luc Foskett in Checkmate, Olivia Findlay in The Rake’s Progress, Martin Diaz and Marco Masciari in Job, and Caspar Lench in Vestris. It was a reminder both of how vivid de Valois could be as a choreographer, especially for male dancers, and how rarely we now see her works performed live.
Later, Marianna Tsembenhoi and Aurora Chinchilla danced solos from Frederick Ashton‘s Ondine and Marius Petipa‘s The Sleeping Beauty, which were followed by a series of duets that included Yasmine Naghdi and Ryoichi Hirano in Kenneth MacMillan’s Concerto, Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé in Wayne McGregor’s Chroma and Cuthbertson and Lukas B Brændsrød bringing us right up to date with Christopher Wheeldon‘s new Beautiful Shadow.
Madam was a captivating celebration, charmingly presented and, like all good entertainments, it left you wanting more.
