This June, The Sarasota Ballet will perform in the Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House for a limited run of performances as part of Ashton Celebrated.
The Sarasota Ballet has gained international acclaim for its extensive repertory of work by Frederick Ashton, the Founder Choreographer of The Royal Ballet. These performances, alongside the Royal Ballet programme of works on the Main Stage, launch ASHTON WORLDWIDE 2024-2028, the Frederick Ashton Foundation's international festival celebrating the choreographer's work and legacy.
The two programmes highlight the master choreographer's abundant creativity. The first programme opens on Tuesday 4 June, with the company performing Ashton's Valses nobles et sentimentales, Dante Sonata, and Sinfonietta. The second mixed programme also includes Valses nobles et sentimentales alongside Façade and a series of divertissements: Friday's Child from Jazz Calendar, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Pas de Cinq from Illuminations, La Chatte, and the Balcony Pas de Deux from Romeo and Juliet.
The Sarasota Ballet is the Gulf Coast of Florida's only professional ballet company. The first Artistic Director was announced in 1990, but in 2007 Iain Webb – a former Royal Ballet dancer – took over, and brought The Sarasota Ballet onto the world stage achieving international recognition.
Together with his wife Margaret Barbieri, Assistant Director and former principal of The Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, Webb has introduced 163 ballets into the repertoire, including many ballets by Frederick Ashton.
On Saturday 8 June, The Royal Ballet and The Sarasota Ballet will come together for a special gala performance. Ashton's Dance of the Blessed Spirits will be performed by Royal Ballet Principal dancer Vadim Muntagirov, while Royal Ballet dancers Lauren Cuthbertson, Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Gary Avis perform alongside dancers from The Sarasota Ballet in Façade. The gala will also include performances of Valses nobles et sentimentales and Varii Capricci by The Sarasota Ballet.
The Sarasota Ballet also make its debut on the Main Stage when it joins The Royal Ballet for The Dream / Short Works / Rhapsody, running between 7 and 22 June. The Sarasota Ballet will perform Ashton's The Walk to the Paradise Garden as a part of the short works.
Valses nobles et sentimentales
Dante Sonata
Tweedledee and Tweedledum
Jazz Calendar
Façade
Sinfonietta
The Walk to the Paradise Garden
Varii Capricci
Illuminations – La Chatte
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.