Performer: Daria Klimentová

Internationally-renowned dancers perform a diverse range of choreography for the Russian Ballet Icons Gala's tenth anniversary.

English National Ballet has performed The Nutcracker every year since it was founded in 1950. The latest version, by former company artistic director Wayne Eagling, has a great deal of charm and a stunning leading couple. At the London Coliseum. 

Rudolf Nureyev was born in 1938 and died in 1993, making 2013 the 75th anniversary of his birth and the 20th of his death. English National Ballet have cause to be deeply grateful to Nureyev: he gave them (in their previous incarnation as London Festival Ballet) their popular Romeo and Juliet, and lent his box-office appeal as a principal dancer to numerous other productions.

At the opening night of Kenneth MacMillan’s production of The Sleeping Beauty in London, all eyes were on English National Ballet’s new artistic director, up on stage – rather than in the audience. Would she still be able to hold her balances on pointe now that she is also required to balance the office books?The answer is a resounding yes.

While the first of English National Ballet’s tributes to the Ballets Russes focused on works with a ‘nature’ theme, this second programme was more sporty – an apt topic for London 2012. First, there is Apollo, one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities, then a game of tennis. Then there is an acrobat, and, finally, a marathon of non-stop technical classical feats.

English National Ballet’s early summer spectacular offers an evening of glamour, glitz and gorgeous gowns all neatly wrapped in the glorious music of the Gershwin brothers. Choreographed and directed by Derek Deane, it combines a medley of songs, music and various dance styles – classical ballet, ballroom and tap dancing --to suit every taste.