Apollo (1928)
Choreographer George Balanchine
Music - Igor Stravinsky
Apollo marked the start of Balanchine's life-long association with Stravinsky and was the ballet that first brought him international acclaim. Created for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, the ballet depicts Apollo, the young god of music, being instructed by the Muses of dance, song, poetry and mime. A masterpiece.
Afternoon of a Faun 1953
Choreographer Jerome Robbins
Music - Claude Debussy
American choreographer, Jerome Robbins is internationally renowned as much for his ballets created for the likes of New York City Ballet, Ballets USA and American Ballet Theatre as he is for his direction and choreography on a number of Broadway’s biggest hits, including On The Town and West Side Story, the latter of which he received two Academy Awards for in the 1960 film version.
Jerome Robbins' Afternoon of a Faun is a serenely sensual re-working of Vaslav Njinsky’s original 1912 ballet for Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes, which drew its inspiration from Stephane Mallarmes’ poem L’Apres midi d’un faune. In Robbins’ version the audience become voyeurs of a private encounter between two young dancers, one male, one female, who meet and practice in front of the mirror in an empty dance studio, absorbed in their own and in each others physicality, until a kiss breaks the spell.
Chasing Ghosts 2007
Choreographer Diana Loosmore
Music - Ian Simmonds
Scottish Ballet’s Diana Loosmore presents Chasing Ghosts, her second choreographic work for the Company. Set to Ian Simmonds’ pulsating score, the seven dancers make contact, movements are shadowed and reflected, leaving traces as the pursuit develops.
Chasing Ghosts is a fascinating study of human relationships, hypnotic, luminous and spectral, with stunning lighting and costumes galvanising the piece with a ghostly, metallic shimmer.
Fearful Symmetries 1994
Choreographer Ashley Page
Music - John Adams
Originally choreographed for The Royal Ballet, the Edinburgh International Festival marks the Scottish premiere of Artistic Director Ashley Page’s hugely successful Olivier award-winning Fearful Symmetries.
Set to the backdrop of Antony McDonald’s geometrically Rothko-esque design, Fearful Symmetries is an exhilarating celebration of pure dance, and a compelling interpretation of John Adams’ wonderfully surging minimalist score.