Kenneth MacMillan

As young dancers, they were best friends and fierce rivals. Deedee left the stage for marriage and motherhood, while Emma would become an international ballet icon. But when Deedee's teenage daughter is invited to join Emma's dance company and begins an affair with a young Russian star, the two women are forced to confront the choices they've made, the resentments they've hidden and the emotional truths they must face at the turning point.

Gripping historical drama presents a triumphant celebration of the human spirit. The true-life story of how one Danish family risked their lives in a remarkable effort to save thousands of their Jewish countrymen from the horror of Nazi concentration camps. Hendrik and his doctor father undertake the dangerous task of deceiving the Nazis and hiding Jewish families. When the Koster men must themselves go into hiding, Henrik's sister and mother are left to face capture by the suspicious Gestapo.

As members of the feuding Capulet and Montague families, Romeo and Juliet should be sworn enemies, but they fall deeply in love and marry in secret. That very day, disastrous circumstances lead Romeo to fight and kill Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, setting off a chain of events that culminate in tragedy.

An ancient family feud casts a long shadow over the town of Verona. In this hothouse of tension, brawls are quick to break out and both sides get caught in the crossfire.

From The Royal Ballet’s classical origins in the works of Petipa, to the home-grown choreographers who put British ballet on the world stage, this mixed programme highlights the versatility of the Company. Petipa’s Raymonda Act III is Russian classical ballet summarized in one act, full of sparkle and precise technique, while Ashton’s Enigma Variations is quintessentially British in every way – from its score by Elgar and period designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman, to Ashton’s signature style, the essence of British ballet. Concerto, MacMillan’s fusion of classical technique with a contemporary mind, completes a programme that shows the breadth of the Company’s heritage.

A seedy London promoter turns a naive, working-class teenager into a pop singing sensation.

Manon’s brother Lescaut is offering her to the highest bidder when she meets Des Grieux and falls in love. They elope to Paris, but when Monsieur G.M. offers Manon a life of luxury as his mistress she can’t resist.

The Sleeping Beauty unites Petipa's demanding but enchanting choreography with Tchaikovsky's wonderful score in one of the best-loved of all classical ballets. This recording of Anthony Dowell's 1994 production for The Royal Ballet, with designs by Maria Björnson, features an outstanding cast led by Viviana Durante as a radiant Princess Aurora. She is partnered by Zoltán Solymosi as Prince Florimund and Anthony Dowell himself is a glitteringly elegant embodiment of evil as the wicked fairy Carabosse. The Royal Ballet, exceptional as ever, is accompanied by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, deftly conducted by Barry Wordsworth.

The Capulets and Montagues are sworn enemies. Yet it is love at first sight for Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet when they meet each other at the Capulet ball, into which Romeo has snuck. The two fall in love and they profess their devotion to each other at Juliet’s balcony. They secretly get married.

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale The Ice Maiden, The Fairy's Kiss tells the story of a boy cursed with a kiss, destined for immortality.

Based on the true story of the death of Crown Prince Rudolf and his young mistress Mary Vetsera in 1889, Steven McRae and Sarah Lamb take on these challenging roles in a dark and intense ballet. Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary is emotionally unstable and haunted by his obsession with death. He is forced to marry Princess Stephanie. Soon afterwards, his former lover, Marie Larisch, introduces him to a new mistress, Mary Vetsera, a young woman who shares his morbid fascination.

Classic ballet by Kenneth MacMillan to the music of Prokofiev.

The Royal Ballet performs a production of Manon, starring Tamara Rojo in the title role with the world-famous dancer Carlos Acosta as her lover Des Grieux. In decadent 18th century Paris, the young, beautiful and naive Manon is torn between a life of privilege and luxury with the wealthy Monsieur GM or love with the poor student Des Grieux. Manon has become one the Royal Ballet's signature works since its creation by choreographer Kenneth MacMillan in 1974. This typically sumptuous production is designed by Nicholas Georgiadis and staged by Monica Mason and Monica Parker.

Edward Watson takes the role of Crown Prince Rudolf in Kenneth MacMillan's compelling ballet which lives out the final eight years of Rudolf's life with its relentless downward spiral of political intrigue, drugs and murder. It culminates with the suicide pact at the hunting lodge - known as Mayerling - between Rudolf and his 17-year-old mistress, Mary Vetsera (Mara Galeazzi). Filmed in high definition and recorded in true surround sound.

Royal Ballet Principal Natalia Osipova dances the title role in Kenneth MacMillan’s haunting ballet, to atmospheric music by Tchaikovsky and Martinů. Anastasia tells the story of Anna Anderson who, following the Russian Revolution and the murder of the royal family, claimed she was the surviving Grand Duchess Anastasia. Many believed her to be an imposter; others hoped she was Anastasia, a remnant of a lost world. A powerful, psychological challenge for the lead dancer, Anastasia explores one of the great historical mysteries of the 20th century, only recently solved, and the distorting mirror of memory, time and place.

Inspired by dark and gripping real life events, this Royal Ballet classic depicts the sexual and morbid obsessions of Crown Prince Rudolf leading to the murder-suicide scandal with his mistress Mary Vetsera. The oppressive glamour of the Austro-Hungarian court in the 1880s sets the scene for a suspenseful drama of psychological and political intrigue as Rudolf fixates on his mortality. Kenneth MacMillan's 1978 ballet remains a masterpiece of storytelling and this revival marks 30 years since the choreographer’s death. Expect to see the Company at its dramatic finestacross potent ensemble scenes and some of the most daring and emotionally demanding pas de deux in the ballet repertory.

"Handsomely staged, meticulously rehearsed and vividly danced" (The Spectator), English National Ballet's production of Kenneth MacMillan's ballet features compelling characters, larger than life scenes and pas de deux ranging from romantic to heartbreaking. The ballet's haunting score, by Jules Massenet, is played live by English National Ballet Philharmonic under the baton of Gavin Sutherland.

"MacMillan's vision has been vital in shaping The Royal Ballet's style and repertory, and what better way to appreciate his art than with this rare chance to experience three contrasting works in a single performance. Abstract, dramatic, humorous - this programme gives a wonderfully varied introduction not just to MacMillan's work but to the beauty and dramatic power of ballet itself. Concerto, to Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto, contrasts moments of exuberance and elegiac reflection. The Judas Tree places a single woman among 13 men to enact a harrowing event that is recognizably contemporary but with biblical overtones. Elite Syncopations completes the programme with a sparkling evocation of a dance hall that brings ragtime rhythms to the dance, and a ragtime band to the stage.

Given its premiere by The Royal Ballet in 1965 with Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn dancing the title roles, Kenneth MacMillan's first full-evening ballet has become a signature work for the Company, enjoying great popularity around the world. From the outset, the production teems with life and colour as the townspeople, market traders and servants of the rival Montagues and Capulets go about their daily business in vibrant crowd scenes. But Romeo and Juliet take centre stage for those great pas de deux: the meeting in the ballroom, the balcony scene, the morning after the wedding and the final devastating tomb scene. Although The Royal Ballet has performed Romeo and Juliet over 400 times, each performance and pairing is subtly different and Lauren Cuthbertson and Federico Bonelli are utterly captivating in the title roles.

Carlos Acosta dances as one of the two star-crossed lovers in Shakespeare's timeless tragedy, presented with the classic Kenneth MacMillan choreography and beautifully staged by The Royal Ballet. In this perennial favourite, Carlos Acosta dances alongside Tamara Rojo in a celebrated stage partnership. The drama of the doomed lovers is set against the ravishing sets and costumes designs of Nicholas Georgiadis.