Details

Deborah MacMillan has devised a new one act production of Kenneth MacMillan's rarely performed ballet Isadora. The original two act ballet premiered in April 1981 as part of The Royal Ballet's 50th Anniversary Season and the title role was performed by Merle Park and actress, Mary Miller. 20th Century dancer Isadora Duncan was an innovator and free-spirit, a hippy before her time who wanted the whole world to dance in the interests of peace, harmony and love Deborah MacMillan has completely revised the original ballet. In this new production the leading role belongs wholly to a dancer who is accompanied by the recorded voice of an actress, the original score of Richard Rodney Bennett, and video montage by Christopher Bird and Lynn Wake which includes archive film from Isadora's heyday. Isadora is paired in a double bill with Jerome Robbins' one act ballet, Dances at a Gathering, last performed as part of the 2007/08 Season alongside The Dream. Jerome Robbins originally conceived Dances at a Gathering as a Pas de deux. Developing his theme he widened his musical selection to include etudes, waltzes, mazurkas, a nocturne and a scherzo. The ballet follows a group of friends and lovers exploring their past and present through a series of dances that respond to Frederic Chopin's music, changes in the surrounding landscape and the mood of the ever-changing sky.

Creatives/Company

Music(s): Isobel Waller-Bridge, Richard Rodney Bennett (Isadora), Frederic Chopin (Dances at a Gathering)
Producer: Royal Ballet
Conductor: Barry Wordsworth
Choreographer(s): Kenneth MacMillan (Isadora), Deborah MacMillan (this production - Isadora), Jerome Robbins (Dances at a Gathering)
Other(s): Julie Lincoln (staging - Isadora), Susan Hendl (staging - Dances at a Gathering), Ben Huys (staging - Dances at a Gathering)
Lighting(s): John B Read (Isadora), Jennifer Tipton (Dances at a Gathering)
Design(s): Christopher Bird (video - Isadora), Lynn Wake (video - Isadora)
Costume: Joe Eula (Dances at a Gathering)