The Royal Ballet Pite/Dawson/Wheeldon Programme

London audiences have already had a number of opportunities to enjoy Crystal Pite’s extraordinary work at Sadler’s Wells, where she is an Associate Artist.

However, this will be Pite’s first ever commission by a British company, and as such it’s already created a fever of expectation.

All will be revealed at the première on 14th March for now we know the new piece is a large ensemble piece to music by the Polish composer Henryck Górecki, and is called Flight Pattern. As Pite herself explains, this is her reaction to the current refugee crisis.

One of the most gifted choreographers of her generation, Pite has an extraordinary ability to move large groups of dancers on stage. Her work is noted for its fearless technique and breath-taking lyricism. She describes her style as imbued with “rigour and recklessness.”

The world première of Pite’s latest work features alongside revivals of David Dawson’s The Human Seasons and Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain.

Royal Ballet School alumnus Dawson created The Human Seasons, his first commission for the Royal Ballet, in 2013. Inspired by Keats’s poem of the same name, it sees eight principals and a corps of five embody the evolving ages of man.

Dawson is one of the most interesting and innovative choreographers working today and is known for his ability to strip ballet down to its essentials, thereby achieving tremendous clarity and at the same time emotional impact.

Christopher Wheeldon has become a name to be reckoned with on both sides of the Atlantic. His After the Rain was created for New York City Ballet in 2005 and introduced to Royal Opera House audiences as part of a Wheeldon triple bill last season.

The abstract ballet is in two parts, the first featuring three couples, the second a haunting pas de deux. The piece was rapturously received on its first London showing and now makes a welcome return to the Covent Garden stage.