English National Ballet's Anniversary Gala, Coliseum

English National Ballet has come a very long way since its beginnings in 1950. It was founded by two former stars of the Ballets Russes, Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin, essentially as a touring company and named London Festival Ballet, in a reference to the imminent Festival of Britain.

Spool forward 70 years and, renamed along the way as English National Ballet (ENB), it is now one of the four leading ballet companies in Britain, and under the bold leadership of Tamara Rojo is dancing with renewed brio and acquiring new and challenging repertoire.

The company’s illustrious history will be amply illustrated in a gala danced over two nights and a matinee at the Coliseum, one of ENB’s regular London venues, in January 2020.

ENB joins up with members of its School in an ambitious programme, which includes archive filmed extracts of past performances, blending seamlessly with live on-stage dancing.

Part One of the programme pays tribute to the Ballets Russes, which inspired the company’s original vision, as well as containing exciting extracts from great masters, to create a panorama of the history of ballet until modern times.

Among the works featured in Part One are Balanchine’s Apollo, a classical, playful account of the birth of the beautiful god, choreographed on a score by Stravinsky for one male and three female dancers, who represent his Muses; John Cranko’s Onegin, with its heart-rending pas de deux of love lost; and Roland Petit’s Carmen, a difficult work, which ENB have made very much their own.

Extracts from recent ENB commissions will feature, too, including Akram Khan’s 2014 Dust, inspired by the centenary of World War I, and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Broken Wings, a homage to the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.

Part Two will be dedicated to Etudes, one of the company’s signature pieces. Created by the Danish choreographer Harold Lander and first danced by ENB in 1955, it is based on the shape of a traditional ballet class, building from the first simple steps to the excitement of the final individual fireworks.

A suitable programme for what promises to be a glittering occasion.

Full programme here