Bolshoi Ballet: La Sylphide (2018)

Sylvia (Royal Ballet)

Darcey Bussell and Roberto Bolle star in Frederick Ashton's Sylvia, restored to the splendour of its elegant and opulent three-act form for the 75th anniversary celebrations of The Royal Ballet. With origins in Greek mythology, Sylvia was loved by Aminta, abducted by Orion and eventually rescued by Eros. Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 1st and 5th December 2005.

Bolshoi Ballet: Spartacus

The Bolshoi’s grandiose epic Spartacus recounts the story of a Roman slave’s fight for freedom. With its famous Khachaturian score, since the 1960s it has been considered one of the greatest ballets in the Bolshoi repertoire. The choreography by Yuri Grigorovich fills the Bolshoi stage with dynamic scenes of tension and conflict, and gives full expression to the virility and strength for which Russia’s male dancers are renowned.

The Firebird

Italian singer Mario Vanni visits the Royal Opera in Stockholm and fall in love with ballet dancer Linda Corina.

Step Up 2: The Streets

When rebellious street dancer Andie lands at the elite Maryland School of the Arts, she finds herself fighting to fit in while also trying to hold onto her old life. When she joins forces with the schools hottest dancer, Chase, to form a crew of classmate outcasts to compete in Baltimore s underground dance battle The Streets.

Bolshoi Ballet: The Lady of the Camellias

Armand Duval finds himself at the auction of the famous courtesan Marguerite Gautier’s possessions after she passed away. She was Armand’s true love, and the vision of her belongings awakens vivid memories of their turbulent love story. Choreographer John Neumeier adapts Alexandre Dumas fils’s timeless novel The Lady of the Camellias for the stage with great sensitivity and emotional depth in his work of rare beauty. As the troubled courtesan Marguerite, superstar prima Svetlana Zakharova and Hamburg Ballet’s guest star Edvin Revazov as Armand bring the passionate drama to new emotional heights accompanied by Chopin’s fantastic score. Captured live in Moscow on December 6, 2015, for the Bolshoi Ballet's 2015/2016 cinema season. Encore screenings of this recording were released during the 2017/2018 and 2020/2021 cinema seasons.

Save the Last Dance

After the death of her mother, Sara moves to the South Side of Chicago to live with her father and gets transferred to a majority-black school. Her life takes a turn for the better when befriends Chenille and her brother Derek, who helps her with her dancing skills.

Delibes: Coppélia

This interpretation of Coppélia is set in a cybernetic laboratory specialised in artificial intelligence, where Doctor Coppélius is attempting to create a female android that moves and acts like a human. Against a backdrop of futuristic sets the Víctor Ullate Ballet clothes this classic in a new, bouncy and colourful fairytale wardrobe. Recorded live at the Opera Royal du Chateau de Versailles, 2013.

Spartacus

A 1975 recording of the Bolshoi Ballet's performance of Yuri Grigorovich's production of "Spartacus".

Starstruck: Gene Kelly's Love Letter to Ballet

In 1960, American dancer and actor Gene Kelly created for the Paris Opera Ballet an original choreography that was highly acclaimed at the time, yet rarely performed thereafter; a genius work that the Scottish Ballet, accompanied by the stirring and evocative score by composer and pianist George Gershwin, epitome of orchestral jazz, brings back to life sixty years later.

Center Stage

A group of 12 teenagers from various backgrounds enroll at the American Ballet Academy in New York to make it as ballet dancers and each one deals with the problems and stress of training and getting ahead in the world of dance.

The Royal Ballet: Within the Golden Hour / Medusa / Flight Pattern

Christopher Wheeldon's Within the Golden Hour is based around seven couples separating and intermingling, to music by Vivaldi and Ezio Bosso and lit with the rich colours suggested by sunset. In Flight Pattern, Crystal Pite combines Górecki's haunting “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs” with a large dance ensemble to create a poignant and passionate reflection on migration. Between them, Medusa is new work inspired by the Greek myth, created for The Royal Ballet by the acclaimed choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, which juxtaposes Purcell arias with an electronic score by Olga Wojciechowska.

La Fille mal gardée (The Royal Ballet)

Ever since its triumphant premiere in 1960, Frederick Ashton's La Fille mal gardee has been treasured as one of his happiest creations - his artistic tribute to nature, and an expression of his feelings for his beloved Suffolk countryside. Marianela Nunez and Carlos Acosta perfectly portray the young lovers Lise and Colas, determined to thwart the plans of Widow Simone to marry off her wayward daughter to Alain, the simple son of wealthy Farmer Thomas. Osbert Lancaster's colourful, picture-book designs, along with Ferdinand Herold's tuneful score, arranged by John Lanchbery, provide the perfect setting for Ashton's blissfully bucolic ballet, complete with haywain, pony, maypole and ribbons, a cockrel and his chickens and, of course, the famous clog dance, here wonderfully led by William Tuckett as the irascible but lovable Widow Simone.

Don Quixote

A film adaptation of the Ludwig Minkus ballet, completely re-orchestrated and with additional music by John Lanchbery.

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake

The classic Mariinsky (Kirov) production of the greatest of all ballets. Filmed in the imperial splendor of the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg. Starring Ulyana Lopatkina, Danila Korsuntsev and the breathtaking Mariinsky corps de ballet. Conducted by the great Russian maestro Valery Gergiev.

Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes

The Red Shoes is a 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 battleground between the two men who inspire her passion. Matthew Bourne’s magical adaptation of the classic Powell and Pressburger film is set to the achingly romantic music of golden-age Hollywood composer Bernard Herrmann, the production is orchestrated by Terry Davies, with stunning designs by Lez Brotherston, lighting by Paule Constable, sound by Paul Groothuis and projection design by Duncan McLean. Filmed live at Sadler’s Wells in London especially for cinemas.

The Sleeping Beauty (Royal Ballet)

The wicked fairy Carabosse is furious she wasn’t invited to Princess Aurora’s christening. She gives the baby a spindle, saying that one day the Princess will prick her finger on it and die. The Lilac Fairy makes her own christening gift a softening of Carabosse’s curse: Aurora will not die, but will fall into a deep sleep, which only a prince’s kiss will break. The masterful 19th-century choreography of Marius Petipa is combined with sections created for The Royal Ballet by Frederick Ashton, Anthony Dowell and Christopher Wheeldon. Recorded live as part of the Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season 2019/20 with encore screenings broadcast online during the #OurHousetoYourHouse programme.

Lileya

The first ballet film made in Ukraine, based on Konstantin Dankevich's ballet from 1940.

Cindarella

Sergei Prokofiev's setting of the fairy tale "Cinderella" premiered at Moscow's Bolshoi Theater in 1945. In 1986, Rudolf Nureyev, then ballet director of the Paris Opera, choreographed the ballet anew and transposed the story into a private cinema, with sets reminiscent of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis." ARTE shows the Paris Opera performance from December 31, 2018.

Aria

Ten short pieces directed by ten different directors, including Ken Russell, Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Altman, Bruce Beresford, and Nicolas Roeg. Each short uses an aria as soundtrack/sound, and is an interpretation of the particular aria.

Sky Blue Story

Composed of four stories, each part of 10 minutes, namely: "Rainbow and Zebra", "The Goddess of Victory and the Snail", "The Ant and Love Letter", and "His Royal Highness and the Sheep".

Swan Lake

Contemporary dance company Adventures In Motion Pictures' triumphant modern re-interpretation of Swan Lake, with its cast of male swans, has turned tradition upside down and has taken the ballet fraternity by storm. Never has such a contemporary re-working of a traditional ballet thrilled both ardent critics and modern dance enthusiasts in such equal measure. Originally broadcast on the PBS series "Great Performances" (season 26, episode 15).

Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty: A Gothic Romance

Matthew Bourne choreographs this version of Tchaikovsky's ballet performed at Sadler's Wells Theatre. Bourne sets the first part of the story in 1890, the year in which Tchaikovsky completed his version of Charles Perrault's classic fairy tale, with Beauty pricking herself on the poisoned rose in 1911 and awakening 100 years later in the contemporary world.

Swan Lake

Matthew Bourne choreographs this performance of Tchaikovsky's ballet, filmed live in London. The show, the longest running ballet on both Broadway and the West End, follows the story of Prince Siegfried, who promises his love to swan maiden Odette, only to be tricked by magician Von Rothbart. The stars include Richard Winsor, Dominic North, Nina Goldman, Madelaine Brennan, Steve Kirkham and Joseph Vaughan.

The Australian Ballet: Coppélia

This delightful ballet tells the story of Dr Coppelius, an eccentric toymaker, who attempts to bring life to his beautiful doll Coppélia. He is foiled by the mischevious Swanilda, who masquerades as Coppélia and saves her love, Franz, from the Doctor's magic. Recorded live at the Sydney Opera House, this acclaimed production by Dame Peggy van Praagh, the founding Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet, is a triumph.

Bolshoi Ballet: Raymonda

Raymonda is betrothed to Jean de Brienne, a gallant knight who pledged to go on a crusade led by the King of Hungary. When her beloved leaves, Abderakhman, a foreign knight, makes a bid for the hand of Raymonda and threatens her fate when she rejects him…

Bolshoi Ballet: Le Corsaire

Inspired by Lord Byron’s epic poem, this jewel of the repertoire boasts a lavish production complete with a shipwreck, pirates, and some of ballet’s most renowned scenes.

The Nutcracker: The Untold Story

Set in 1920s Vienna, this is the tale of a little girl, whose godfather gives her a special doll one Christmas Eve.

Bolshoi Ballet: La Bayadère

When the beautiful dancer Nikiya and the warrior Solor meet in secret, they swear eternal mutual fidelity. However, the High Brahmin, who is also in love with Nikiya, overhears them. He rushes to reveal their secret to the Rajah, who has decided that Solor will marry his beloved daughter Gamzatti. Recorded live, January 2013.

Swan Lake

Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, a ballet in three acts, is present by the Ballet Company of the National Opera of Ukraine, with music provided by the Orchestra of the National Opera of Ukraine, conducted by Mykola Dyadura

Bolshoi Ballet: A Hero of Our Time

Pechorin, a young officer, embarks on a journey across the majestic mountains of the Caucasus, on a path set by his passionate encounters. Disillusioned and careless, he inflicts pain upon himself and the women around him… The story, based on the larger-than-life hero Pechorin, is adapted from Mikhail Lermontov’s literary masterpiece in three separate stories recounting his heartbreaking betrayals. Is Pechorin a real hero? Or is he a man like any other? This brand new production by choreographer Yuri Possokhov is a tragic poetic journey that can only be seen at the Bolshoi. Filmed live on April 9th 2017.

The Bolshoi Ballet: A Contemporary Evening

For one evening, the Bolshoi takes on a new challenge with audacity in The Cage by Jerome Robbins, Harald Lander’s Études and Alexei Ratmansky’s Russian Seasons.

Woolf Works

The first revival of Wayne McGregor’s critically acclaimed ballet triptych to music by Max Richter, inspired by the works of Virginia Woolf.

The Sleeping Beauty

The Sleeping Beauty holds a special place in The Royal Ballet’s repertory. It was the ballet with which the Company reopened the Royal Opera House in 1946 after World War II, its first production at its new home in Covent Garden. Margot Fonteyn danced the role of the beautiful Princess Aurora in the first performance, with Robert Helpmann as Prince Florimund. Sixty years later, in 2006, the original 1946 staging was revived by then Director of The Royal Ballet Monica Mason and Christopher Newton, returning Oliver Messel’s wonderful designs and glittering costumes to the stage.

The ROH Live: Jewels

Now celebrating its 50th year, George Balanchine’s sparkling ballet still shines with all the brilliance of the gemstones that inspired it.

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake

Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake comes to cinemas with a fresh look for the 21st century and is ‘as bold and beautiful as ever’ (★★★★★ Telegraph). This thrilling, audacious and witty production is perhaps still best known for replacing the female corps-de-ballet with a menacing male ensemble, which shattered convention, turned tradition upside down and took the dance world by storm. Filmed Live at Sadler's Wells in January 2019.

Billy Elliot: The Musical Live

In County Durham, England, 1984, a talented young dancer, Billy Elliot, stumbles out of the boxing ring and onto the ballet floor. He faces many trials and triumphs as he strives to conquer his family’s set ways, inner conflict, and standing on his toes in a musical that questions masculinity, gender norms and conformity.

Tales of Beatrix Potter

The Royal Ballet Company brings Squirrel Nutkin, Tom Thumb, Hunca Munca, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Jeremy Fisher, Pigling Bland, and Pigwig to the screen doing pirouettes and pas de deux in this filmed ballet production directed by Reginald Mills. The film more properly belongs, however, to choreographer Frederick Ashmore, composer John Lanchbery, and costume designer Rostislav Douboujinsky. This literal adaptation concerns the shy Beatrix Potter and how, when all of the toy animals in her room come to life, she emerges from her shell and begins to enjoy life. Sequences include a rowdy dance with Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca destroying a collection of plaster food, a midnight pas de deux between Pigling Bland and Pigwig, and a corps de ballet of dancing mice.

The Coronation Concert

Take That, Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, Andrea Bocelli, Sir Bryn Terfel, Freya Ridings and many more perform live from Windsor Castle in celebration of Their Majesties' coronation.