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.

Dance Revolutionaries is a captivating exploration of raw emotion through dance set in stunning locations, showcasing Portraits – five solo dances, and an innovative production of the rarely-seen ballet, Sea of Troubles.

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.

Kenneth MacMillan’s passionate choreography for Romeo and Juliet shows The Royal Ballet at its dramatic finest. Sergey Prokofiev’s famously evocative score is the driver for some of the most ardent pas de deux and powerful set pieces in ballet history. The vibrant crowd scenes with magnificent designs by Nicholas Georgiadis vividly recreate the color and bustle of 16th-century Verona in this Royal Ballet classic. “Yasmine Naghdi and Matthew Ball will hug their first Romeo and Juliet their whole lives. What a dream debut for these two youngsters…” (The Spectator) “Kenneth MacMillan was a consummate storyteller, and in Romeo and Juliet he came as close to perfection as it’s possible to get.” (Culture Whisper) “From the quarrelling townsfolk to the stately ball guests, this is a Romeo packed with life, the whole company caught up in the ballet’s unfolding tragedy.” (The Independent)

Kenneth MacMillan's passionate choreography for Romeo and Juliet shows The Royal Ballet at its dramatic finest. Sergey Prokofiev's iconic score provides the basis for the ballet's romantic pas de deux and vibrant crowd scenes, while 16th-century Verona is created by Nicholas Georgiadis's magnificent designs. In 1965, MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet was given its premiere at Covent Garden by The Royal Ballet and was an immediate success: the first night was met with rapturous applause, which lasted for 40 minutes, and an incredible 43 curtain calls. The title roles were danced by Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, although the ballet had been created on Christopher Gable and Lynn Seymour. It has been performed by The Royal Ballet more than four hundred times since, as well as touring the world, and has become a true classic of the 20th-century ballet repertory.

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.

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

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.

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.

Nureyev & Friends, filmed in HD at Le Palais de Congres in May 2013, features dancers from the world’s finest ballet companies paying tribute to him in an exceptionally prestigious dance gala celebrating the 75th anniversary of his birth.

Romeo and Juliet fall passionately in love, but their families are caught up in a deadly feud. They marry in secret, but tragic circumstances lead Romeo to fight and kill Juliet’s cousin Tybalt. As punishment, he is banished from the city. When Juliet’s parents force her to marry Paris, she takes drastic action by drinking a potion to make her appear dead so she can escape to join Romeo. News of the plan fails to reach him and he returns to visit her tomb grief stricken. Presuming Juliet lifeless, he drinks a phial of poison. Juliet wakes to find Romeo dead. Devastated, she stabs herself.

"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.

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.

Winter Dreams is a one-act ballet created by Kenneth MacMillan in 1991 for the Royal Ballet. The music is by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, with some traditional Russian music. The story is based on the play Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov. The first performance was on 7 February 1991, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

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.

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.

Classic ballet by Kenneth MacMillan to the music of Prokofiev.

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.

First performed in 1974 and celebrating its 40th anniversary, this production is the second in this year’s season following The Royal Ballet’s. In Regency Paris, bourgeois society gorges itself on luxury and easy pleasures. Carried off in this whirlwind, the sensual yet naïve Manon is unable to resist temptation and she drags down the faithful Des Grieux with her in her fall.

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.