ROOTS / PROGRAM / Bastille / OCTOBER / 2025

Description

Entitled Roots, this programme explores those of George Balanchine who, in Theme and Variations, created in 1947 in New York, adopted Tchaikovsky's music to pay homage to the Russian academic tradition that nurtured him.

Christopher Wheeldon, for his part, draws on the heritage of ancient Greece for his ballet Corybantic Games, making its repertoire debut at the Opera. The title refers as much to the frenzy that characterised the conducting style of Leonard Bernstein - whose music informs the piece - as it does to the Corybantes, the priests of the goddess Cybele with their martial dances.

Finally, Rhapsodies enters the repertoire to George Gershwin's score. In his piece, Cape Town-born choreographer Mthuthuzeli November evokes both urban energy and his African origins.