Victor Prigent

Sadler’s Wells & BBC Arts present a three-part celebration of dance featuring many of the UK’s leading dance companies and the most exciting new emerging talent. Presented by Brenda Emmanus as part of BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine, this unique festival has been curated in lockdown by Sadler’s Wells, London - one of the world’s leading dance houses.

On a remote Arctic research station, a captive creature (played by the English National Ballet’s charismatic principal dancer Jeffrey Cirio) is unwittingly enlisted into a military program that subjects him to sinister experiments. Amid this turmoil, he finds himself enamoured with a cleaner, the only person who shows him kindness; together, these two outsiders dream of escape from their dystopian surrounds.

English National Ballet has been performing a version of Nutcracker every year since 1950. In 2020, the tradition lives on. Join Clara and her enchanted Nutcracker on a hot air balloon ride to the Land of Snow, and enjoy iconic scenes featuring the Sugar Plum Fairy, Snowflakes, Flowers and more. As London moved into Tier 4 COVID-19 restrictions with the subsequent cancellation of all scheduled performances of Nutcracker Delights, the Company decided to film and share a recording of this specially-adapted production with its audience as a thank you at the close of its 70th Anniversary year. Nutcracker Delights was filmed on 18 and 19 December at the London Coliseum by Michael Nunn and William Trevitt.

"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.