World Ballet Day 2021

World Ballet Day has been taking ballet lovers around the world over a 24-hour period for coming up to eight years now. Organised by The Royal Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet and The Australian Ballet, World Ballet Day 2021, on Tuesday 19 October, is the biggest yet, counting on the participation of some 50 companies on six continents.

And this year the global celebration of dance introduces an exciting innovation. Entitled Jump for Joy, it encourages us all to participate. Here's The Royal Ballet principal Marcelino Sambé to explain:


So, get dancing!

Apart from Jump for Joy, World Ballet Day 2021 offers the usual behind-the-scenes access to the professional lives of dancers around the world. Given the time difference, the day starts off in Melbourne (GMT +10), where the dancers of the Australian Ballet will go through the daily class, with commentary from company director David Hallberg, followed by rehearsals for Harlequinade, I New Then and Romeo and Juliet. The segment will also include a tour of the company's costume department.

Next comes the Bolshoi Ballet streaming from Moscow. The Bolshoi segment will be introduced by soloists Artem Ovcharenko and Ana Turazashvili. It'll be made up of some pre-recorded material, including rehearsals for Orlando, La Bayadère, Don Quixote and Pharaoh’s Daughter, as well as live interviews conducted in the historic foyer of the Bolshoi Theatre.

The Royal Ballet stream starts at 11am with class, after which we'll be invited to drop in on rehearsals for some of the company's best loved ballets, including Giselle and MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet. Possibly most mouthwatering will be a peek into the final rehearsals for the blockbuster event of the season, Wayne McGregor's The Dante Project, the choreographer's stage adaptation of Dante's The Divine Comedy,

Joining the line-up are returning favourites American Ballet Theatre, Paris Opera Ballet, The National Ballet of Japan, and Cape Town City Ballet, as well as nine newcomers.

For its part, Birmingham Royal Ballet will be streaming a performance of Javier de Frutos's Burning Building, interviews with dancers and rehearsals, as well as a first look at the Company's future digital offerings. You can access those from 5 pm on BRB'sFacebook page and YouTube channel

It's the sort of event which has something for everyone: balletomanes will surely be glued to their screens for most of the day, while others will dip in and out either at random or to follow aspects they're particularly interested in.

You can watch on World Ballet Day's own website, on Facebook, or YouTube. There will also be exclusive content on TikTok.