Dances at a Gathering pas de deux (Jerome Robbins; Francesca Hayward, William Bracewell)

Francesca Hayward and William Bracewell perform a pas de deux from Jerome Robbins’ 1969 ballet Dances at a Gathering. You can watch the full ballet as part of The Royal Ballet’s mixed programme Balanchine and Robbins. Watch a livestream of the full performance from 11 June 2021: The rich history of American ballet is celebrated in classic works by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, two choreographic giants of the 20th century. Apollo brought Balanchine together for the first time with composer Igor Stravinsky. Their creation for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1928 remains a masterpiece of neoclassicism in its striking depiction of the young god of music and his three muses. Balanchine’s effervescent Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux breathes life into a long-lost movement from Tchaikovsky’s original score for Swan Lake. Created in 1960 for virtuoso New York City Ballet dancers Violette Verdy and Conrad Ludlow, its thrilling technical challenges are still re