Ballet – The New Classic

Sir Matthew Bourne talks about his passion for storytelling in dance, and his own personal journey with his radical gender-flipped Swan Lake.

Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Swan Lake is on tour until April, bringing classic opulence to multiple venues across the country.

The Sleeping Beauty is perhaps the Ugly Duckling of Tchaikovsky’s three ballets. It was the second in the trilogy, completed in 1889, but has neither the dramatic thrust of Swan Lake nor the calorific sugar-coated charm of The Nutcracker in terms of popular appeal. 

Ask anyone who claims to know nothing about ballet to actually name one, the chances are it will be one of Tchaikovsky's, with Swan Lake high on the list.