The Royal Ballet in America

Posted on January 16, 2015

The Royal Ballet has announced details of its US tour, visiting Washington, Chicago and New York this summer. The repertory will include Carlos Acosta’s production of Don Quixote and works by Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan, Wayne McGregor, Liam Scarlett and Christopher Wheeldon.

The company will dance Don Quixote at the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC from June 9 to 14, and at the Auditorium Theatre, Chicago from June 18 to 21.

In New York, the company will appear at the David H Koch Theater, Lincoln Center from June 23 to 28, with a more varied repertory. The season opens with a gala performance of Ashton’s The Dream on June 23, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the ballet’s first US performance. The company will also dance two mixed bills. The first programme consists of The Dream with Kenneth MacMillan’s Song of the Earth. Programme Two includes Wayne McGregor’s Infra and Liam Scarlett’s recent The Age of Anxiety, plus a selection of highlights from Royal Ballet repertory, including the central pas de deux from Christopher Wheeldon’s Aeternum.

Kevin O’Hare, director of The Royal Ballet, said: “We’re particularly thrilled to be returning to the USA and delighted to be presenting Carlos Acosta’s production of Don Quixote, created especially for the company last season. We’re also performing works by three of today’s leading choreographers, who are all resident with us at Covent Garden – Wayne McGregor, Christopher Wheeldon and Liam Scarlett – as well as classics from the company’s two great 20th century choreographers, Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan.”

Casting for the tour has not yet been announced.

Picture: Sarah Lamb and artists of The Royal Ballet in Song of the Earth. Photograph: Johan Persson

Zoe Anderson

Zoë was born in Edinburgh, and saw her first dance performances at the Festival there. She is the dance critic of The Independent, and has also written for The Independent on Sunday, The Scotsman and Dancing Times. In 2002, she received her doctorate from the University of York for a thesis on “Nationhood and epic romance: Ariosto, Sidney, Spenser”. She is the author of The Royal Ballet: 75 Years and The Ballet Lover’s Companion.