The Royal Opera House Ballet
VISCERA / AFTERNOON OF A FAUN / TCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX / CARMEN
A new narrative work from acclaimed dancer Carlos Acosta concludes this mixed program, featuring brilliant short ballets by Liam Scarlett, Jerome Robbins and George Balanchine
As The Royal Ballet’s Artist in Residence, Liam Scarlett has created a number of works for the Company – but the dark and brooding Viscera (2012), created for Miami City Ballet, marked Scarlett’s US debut. Scarlett constructs an intense work with a sensual pas de deux at its core.
Jerome Robbins created Afternoon of a Faun in 1953, to Debussy’s seductive Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. He was inspired by watching two young dancers intent on rehearsing a pas de deux, obsessed by their reflection and seemingly unaware of the dance’s sexual resonances.
George Balanchine created the virtuoso Tchaikovsky pas de deux in 1960. He was inspired by the extraordinary abilities of NYC Ballet dancers Violette Verdy and Conrad Ludlow and by the music – a newly discovered movement from Swan Lake that had not been heard since Tchaikovsky’s death.
Carlos Acosta’s new work uses the great music and gripping story of Bizet’s Carmen. Martin Yates creates a new adaptation of Bizet’s score that makes use of the Royal Opera Chorus and flamenco singing. (About 2 hours 45 minutes, including two intervals.)