A timeless fairytale and Academy Award-winning movie, The Red Shoes has captivated audiences and inspired generations of dancers with its powerful tale of obsession, possession and one girl’s dream to be the greatest dancer in the world. Victoria Page lives to dance but her ambitions become a fierce struggle between the two men who inspire her passion.

Matthew Bourne’s magical double Olivier Award-winning production of the legendary Powell and Pressburger film is set to a score orchestrated by Terry Davies, featuring the mesmerizing music of golden-age Hollywood composer Bernard Herrmann, with sumptuous designs by Lez Brotherston (set and costumes), Paule Constable (lighting) and Paul Groothuis (sound).

An intoxicating drama where life imitates art with fateful consequences, The Red Shoes will dazzle your senses and break your heart.

EPSG:4326

Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes

Sadler's Wells Theatre

The Marlowe

Theatre Royal Nottingham

Theatre Royal Plymouth

The Quays

Mayflower Theatre

The magical Christmas tradition for all the family.

This festive season, join Clara on a fantastical adventure where anything is possible. Embark on a journey full of delight and wonder as English National Ballet brings Nutcracker to life with over 100 dancers and musicians.

It’s Christmas Eve in Edwardian London. Clara and her mother are shopping at Drosselmeyer’s Sweets & Delights Emporium where she meets an enchanted Nutcracker doll. They take home liquorice all-sorts, nougat, marzipan and of course, sugarplums, to delight their party guests. As music and laughter fill the house, Clara has a magical sugar plum vision, sparking an adventure in which she bravely defends her home from the Rat King before discovering a dazzling ice realm and its Queen.

Nutcracker

London Coliseum

A young princess, cursed to a hundred years of sleep, surrounded by thorns and roses: the fairy tale of the Sleeping Beauty has been told in many different versions over the centuries, from Charles Perrault to the Brothers Grimm and Disney. To this day, it is one of the best-known and most popular fairy tales.

Dorn­röschen

German Oper am Rhein

The programm for the first premiere of the season will be announced shortly.

N.N.

Staatsoper Hamburg

Podcast link: https://youtu.be/4hagYvrYbuM

The Artelize Podcast and Kasper Holten - Pedefining Opera for the modern world

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d36M5Hi6O80

The Artelize Podcast - A legacy of innovation in Opera: Celebrating Marc A. Scorca

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59E40S_EQSY

The Artelize Podcast: A love letter that was never sent

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THv6htilWtI

The Artelize Podcast and Adolfo Corrado: Mediterranean flavors, opera and social media

Get ready for a magical night with DPAC at the London Coliseum on December 11, 2025. We're bringing the enchanting world of the Nutcracker to life, right in the heart of London. Experience the timeless tale of Clara and her Nutcracker Prince as they embark on a fantastical journey. This mesmerizing performance will captivate audiences of all ages with its blend of beautiful music, stunning sets, and dazzling choreography. Don't miss out on this unforgettable evening of performing arts. For more information and to book your tickets, visit our official website dpacnc.com or our YouTube channel. See you there!

The Nutcracker - English National Ballet

Ohad Naharin is a world-renowned Israeli choreographer and the inventor of the Gaga movement language, which, originating from the Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv, has now spread globally and is taught worldwide. To allow dancers to form a personal and emotional connection with the material and the moment of the performance beyond the choreography itself, the Gaga method works towards complete emotional openness.

Minus 16

Deutsche Oper Berlin

The centre of Bridget Breiner's examination of the fairytale is not Clara, the Cinderella, but Livia, one of her stepsisters. What happens when one of the most famous fairytales is told from the perspective of one of the antagonists? Isn't "evil" a question of perspective? Suffering from her mother's power games, Livia discovers her counterpart in Clara. Admiration and fascination turn into jealousy. The story follows its familiar course: the prince chosen by her mother for Livia finds true love in Clara. But Livia goes her own way, frees herself from the constraints of her environment and takes her life into her own hands.

Soot

Theater Duisburg

The Hamburg Ballet opens the doors of the Ballet Center Hamburg – John Neumeier, so you can take the leap into the world of dance. Experience simple warm-up exercises and enjoy the beauty of dancing. We look forward to seeing you in the ballet studio!

Dance for me

Ballettzentrum Hamburg – John Neumeier

The Nutcracker is a winter tradition at the New National Theatre Tokyo -- a long-beloved work evolving through different versions over the years since the theatre first opened. In the 2025/2026 Season, English choreographer Will Tuckett has created an original new production for the New National Theatre Tokyo. Developing not only in ballet but also in theatre and cross-genre works mixing various other artistic forms, Will Tuckett has won numerous awards, including an Olivier Award, and is globally active. This is the second work that he has created for the National Ballet of Japan, following the world premiere of The Tragedy of Macbeth in 2023. Together with Colin Richmond, the set and costume designer who also worked on The Tragedy of Macbeth, Tuckett creates a sweet and colourful world for The Nutcracker. We hope that you will enjoy this special event, set to be a new holiday tradition perfect for celebrating the Christmas, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day season.

The Nutcracker

New National Theatre

He loses his heart and she loses her shoe – with magical consequences… That’s how succinctly and concisely the climax of one of the most adapted fairy tales in world literature can be summarized. The story of the exploited and humiliated Cinderella has touched and captivated people of all ages since time immemorial. Whether as a film, opera, or ballet – this tale of love, hope, and the unshakable belief that dreams can come true never ceases to fascinate.

Cinderella

Globe Coburg

“She is a statue of beauty when standing or sitting: grace itself when she moves,” the 18th century English writer and artist Horace Walpole wrote about the legendary Queen of France Marie Antoinette. This colourful character from French history inspired the ballet by the French choreographer Thierry Malandain that premiered with his own ensemble, Malandain Ballet Biarritz, in 2019 in the very theatre that Marie Antoinette inaugurated on 16 May 1770 to mark her wedding to Louis XVI: the Opéra Royal Château de Versailles.

Marie Antoinette’s life in Versailles is central to Malandain’s ballet, which the choreographer has created to music by two of her contemporaries – Joseph Haydn and Christoph Willibald Gluck. The piece depicts her arrival at court, her wedding day, the opening of the opera house with Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Persée – as a ballet within the ballet – the attempted escape that would ultimately be her undoing and the infamous parties and balls associated with the Queen.

Marie Antoinette

Volksoper Wien

San Carlo Theatre

Whether the word “wave” reminds us of a beach by the sea, the radio or a football stadium – the idea of ​​energy is always in there somewhere. An energy that looks for its path and awakens the impression of liveliness. Waves often spread in circles, going out in all directions from a center point. Waves and circles play a role in a different way in the triple bill ballet program, Waves and Circles – they are extolled, are visible or are tangible.

Waves And Circles

Max-Joseph-Platz

It has become a tradition for ballet companies all over the world to perform Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" at Christmas time. John Neumeier's version of "The Nutcracker", however, avoids direct reference to Christmas. In his ballet, the central character Marie celebrates her twelfth birthday and is drawn by the mysterious ballet master Drosselmeier into the fascinating world of dance. It is, in fact, a ballet about ballet itself.

The Nutcracker for Families

Ballet Nights returns for a special New Year’s Day concert at Cadogan Hall, London – the perfect way to welcome 2026 in style.

This unique celebration blends world-class dance with groundbreaking new creations and sensational live music drawn from across the globe. An unforgettable evening designed to mark the first day of the year.

Audiences will experience the thrill of international stars and bold emerging voices, featuring Gareth Haw, Principal of the English National Ballet, Liudmila Konovalova, Prima Ballerina of the Vienna State Ballet, and Kevin Poeung, Principal of Northern Ballet.

Ballet Nights

Cadogan Hall 

Sharon Eyal and her dance aesthetic have been triumphant on European stages for almost two decades. CORPS DE WALK is a piece from the time before the Israeli choreographer's major international breakthrough. Commissioned by the contemporary Norwegian dance company Carte Blanche, it premiered in 2011 and explores the dangerous eroticism of the masses. The dancers resemble androgynous-looking aliens in their beige bodysuits, white contact lenses, and identical hairstyles. These aliens move precisely in geometric marching formations, oscillating between robotic parades and ecstatic pagan fertility rites. Together with her partner and techno artist Gai Behar and DJ Ori Lichtik, Eyal parodies, not least, the large group scenes of classical ballet, contrasting them with a contemporary counterpart that seems to have come directly from the dance floor of a futuristic techno club. Fifteen years after its premiere, CORPS DE WALK is being revived by the Hessian State Ballet, the company whose director, Bruno Heynderickx – who held the same position at Carte Blanche at the time – originally commissioned Sharon Eyal to create the piece. Sharon Eyal danced with the Batsheva Dance Company from 1990 to 2008, where she choreographed her first pieces. From 2003 to 2004, she served as the company's Associate Artistic Director and as resident choreographer until 2012. In 2009, Eyal began working internationally for other companies. Together with her long-time artistic partner Gai Behar and Ori Lichtik, she founded her own ensemble, LEV, in 2013. From 1999 to 2005, Gai Behar produced live music and underground events in Israel, combined with large-scale techno raves. Since its founding, the company has performed on all major stages and dance festivals. Sharon Eyal has received numerous awards, including the prestigious "Fedora Prize" and the "Der Faust" theater prize.

Body of Walk

Cologne Opera

Whether your little ones have never been to the theatre before or are regular visitors, all children will be transported to the magical Land of Sweets and meet the Mouse King, Snow Queen and gorgeous Sugar Plum Fairy.

artsdepot

These are the opening words used by Chariton of Aphrodisias, who describes himself as “clerk of the lawyer Athenagoras”, in his prose romance of Callirhoe and Chaereas, whose joyous wedding is followed by all manner of conflicts, disasters, abductions and dangers before they are finally reunited.

Kallirhoe

Vienna State Opera

The greatest romantic ballet of all time is brought to life by Tchaikovsky’s haunting and unforgettable score. From the impressive splendour of the Palace ballroom to the moon-lit lake where swans glide in perfect formation, this compelling tale of tragic romance has it all. From Odile, the temptress in black tulle as she seduces the Prince by spinning with captivating precision to the spellbound purity of the swan queen, Odette as she flutters with emotional intensity, the dual role of Odette/Odile is one of ballet’s most unmissable technical challenges.

Ballet & Dance events in Ashland next month

Matthew Bourne's The Red ...

New Adventures

Nutcracker

London Coliseum

Dorn­röschen

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

N.N.

Staatsoper Hamburg

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast - A ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast: A l...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

The Nutcracker - English ...

DPAC

Minus 16

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Soot

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Dance for me

Staatsoper Hamburg

The Nutcracker

Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra

Cinderella

Landestheater Coburg

Marie Antoinette

Volksoper Wien

The Nutcracker

Teatro di San Carlo

Waves And Circles

Bayerische Staatsoper

The Nutcracker

Staatsoper Hamburg

The Nutcracker for Famili...

Teatro di San Carlo

Ballet Nights

Cadogan Hall

Body of Walk

Oper Köln

The Nutcracker

artsdepot

Kallirhoe

Wiener Staatsoper

Swan Lake

The Bridgewater Hall

Dornröschen