On 7 April 2019, stars from the world’s leading ballet companies will come together for Against the Stream, a one-off gala performance celebrating some of ballet’s greatest pioneers.
With a star-studded international cast and live orchestra, the gala, produced by former principal of The Royal Ballet Ivan Putrov, the show promises to champion the mavericks of the ballet world who broke with tradition and pushed against the boundaries of the art form, including Robbins and Balanchine in New York, Lifar and Nureyev in Paris, Vaganova and Yacobson in St Petersburg and Ashton and MacMillan in London.
Putrov said, “the evening will celebrate some of the remarkable choreographers who took ballet to new heights by daring to go against the stream. Great ballet is even more powerful when it is performed close to the original vision of its creator. For this reason I have invited dancers schooled in those companies where the works were originally performed.”
The full programme and casting are yet to be announced, but dancers will include Matthew Ball (Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet), Mathieu Ganio (Étoile of Paris Opera Ballet(, Dmitry Zagrebin (Principal of The Royal Swedish Ballet) and Katja Khaniukova (Soloist with English National Ballet).