COVENT Garden Dance this year celebrates its 20th anniversary of presenting world-class ballet and dance. Since 2009 it has produced Ballet Under the Stars, the “Glyndebourne of dance”, a highly anticipated date in the south Wiltshire calendar, in the beautiful 17th century Dutch walled garden at Hatch House near Tisbury. This year’s Ballet at Hatch, from 24th to 26th July, is also the last – from next year, Covent Garden Dance will be moving to a new Somerset venue, Charlotte’s Lake near Bruton.
Since its founding in 2006, the company has established a clear identity, bringing world-class dancers, choreographers and musicians from leading international companies into intimate and beautiful locations, and pairing performance with exceptional hospitality. What began as a small-scale production has evolved into an international platform, with sold-out seasons in the UK, Middle East and Caribbean, gaining a loyal, global audience.
Ballet Under the Stars has grown from an audience of fewer than 100 guests to more than 400 per evening across three consecutive nights. The setting is transformed into a fully-covered dinner theatre, where audiences experience a
programme of 12 short works, spanning classical, neo-classical and contemporary repertoire, interwoven with a three-course dinner.
This year’s outstanding line-up of performers includes Myriam Ould-Braham and Mickaël Lafon of the Paris Opera Ballet, Xander Parish and Joy Womack representing the Mariinsky Ballet, and leading artists from the English National
Ballet, including Zai Calliste and Taela Rose Graff.
Regular attendees at Ballet at Hatch will be delighted to hear that a favourite dancer, Ksenia Ovsyanick will be returning this year with Zdenek Konvalina. This star couple will perform a deeply emotional work, Lightness of Being, which Ksenia created via the Dicky Buckle Fund. It has since been performed around the world. The couple performed together at Hatch House in 2019 when this work was premiered.
Over the past two decades, Covent Garden Dance has welcomed an exceptional roster of artists from companies including the Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Paris Opéra Ballet, Staatsballett Berlin, Dutch National Ballet and the Mariinsky. Visiting soloists have included Carlos Acosta, Lauren Cuthbertson, Steven McRae, Mara Galeazzi and Lucia Lacarra.
While Hatch has been the company’s principal UK venue, there have been performances at several spectacular international locations, including in Dubai, at Desert Palm and the Four Seasons Resort Jumeirah Beach, on the property of His Highness
Sheikh Mohammed, showing how founder Matt Brady’s creation can work in larger outdoor settings. More recently, the
company has established Iconique in the Bahamas, now in its third year, at venues including Old Fort Bay Club and The Island House. Iconique has developed a strong connection with the local cultural community through collaborations with
Bahamian artists and open access for young dancers.
Covent Garden Dance has also supported new works and young choreographers, through the Dicky Buckle Fund, a registered charity named after the legendary ballet critic and dedicated to emerging choreographers. Over the past 20 years, Covent Garden Dance and the Dicky Buckle Fund have commissioned nearly 30 original works, many of which have been presented within the company’s programmes, ensuring that new voices are developed alongside established repertoire.
Pictured: Joy Womack and Xander Parish perform Fokine’s The Firebird; Ksenia Ovsyanick; Myriam Ould-Braham and Mickaël Lafon, dancing the White Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake, choreography Rudolf Nureyev; and Zai Calliste; photographs by Alice Pennefather
Photograph of Ksenia Ovsyanick and Zdenek Konvalina by Signe Roderik