South-West tour spring 2012

This breathtaking programme presents a work from Birmingham Royal Ballet’s award-winning Director, alongside one from a master of the Broadway stage, and thrilling excerpts from some of the world-famous classics with which Birmingham Royal Ballet has made its name.

TAKE FIVE
A great lover of jazz, Take Five is Company Director David Bintley's latest jazz creation. Set to the iconic music of the legendary Dave Brubeck, this lighthearted, laid-back, elegant ballet takes life calmly in its stride.

BITESIZED BALLET
After the success of the classic excerpts on last year's tour, Birmingham Royal Ballet presents highlights from three more of the world's greatest ballets. First is the beautiful pas de deux from Kenneth MacMillan's Concerto. Then, in the White Swan pas de deux from the greatest of all classical ballets, Swan Lake, a love-struck Odette and Prince Siegfried dance the night away in each others arms. We follow this with an excerpt from the most romantic of Frederick Ashton's works, The Two Pigeons. The ballet tells the tale of a frustrated fiancé's flight from the nest and his eventual return to the arms of his tearful lover.

THE GRAND TOUR
All aboard for the roaring 20s! Setting out for Europe, our heroine, a doughty American spinster, can't believe her luck when she embarks on her cruise and finds herself in the company of a feast of famous faces. However, it turns out that Noël Coward, Gertrude Stein and George Bernard Shaw, to name but a few, aren't necessarily the friendliest of shipmates. Add stowaways and a rather handsome Chief Steward into the mix and things might get a little... complicated.

Choreographer of many films and hit Broadway shows, American Joe Layton's The Grand Tour is a genuinely funny take on the eccentric celebrities that populated England's stages, screens and newspapers in the 1920s, accompanied by unique orchestral renditions of Noël Coward songs.