THE 17th century walled garden at Hatch House near Tisbury is a magical setting for any event, but it has a uniquely seductive atmosphere when the annual visit of Covent Garden Dance Company stages Ballet Under The Stars.

Ballet at Hatch has become known as “the Glyndebourne of dance” – and it’s a fair comparison, combining as it does international stars of the ballet and contemporary dance scene, great classics and exciting new work, an implicit invitation to dress up and enjoy great dance and good food, all in a beautiful garden … it’s a place where people meet, sometimes only for this one occasion a year, greeting each other happily in a shared enjoyment of a very special event.

This year’s programme brought two charismatic dancers and a brilliant jazz trumpeter and composer from the Bahamas to the south Wiltshire setting. It also introduced the audiences over the three nights to a thrilling new star – Emma Hawes, leading principal dancer of the English National Ballet, replacing at very short notice, the great Lauren Cuthbertson, who suffered a sudden and serious viral illness.

While everyone missed the return to Hatch of Lauren, principal guest artist of the Royal Ballet – and everyone wishes her a complete and speedy recovery – Emma was a glorious replacement. Featherlight, classically perfect, she danced with a joyous grace that brought loud cheers and whoops from the audience.

With dance partner Gareth Haw, she captivated everyone with her beautiful shapes, in a touching pas de deux from Giselle, with Haw, who is also an ENB leading principal dancer. They followed this, rounding off a magical evening, with the great Swan Lake pas de deux, possibly the most famous in all classical ballet, here given a matchless beauty and poignancy by a ballerina whose return to Hatch will be eagerly awaited!

The evening lived up to its name, “Ballet under the stars”, on both Friday and Saturday – and Sunday’s rain did nothing to dampen the experience. And if the stars were mostly hidden in the sky, they were very much on show on stage under the marquee in the beautiful 17th century walled garden.

Courteney Celeste Fox, probably the Caribbean’s most famous dancer and the Cultural Ambassador for the Bahamas, gave a joyfully smouldering performance of In Time, a new work which she choreographed, danced to a score composed and performed by Bahamian jazz trumpeter Giveton Gelin, who also performed two solos during the evening.

For lovers of contemporary dance, there were two astonishing pieces created by Ekleido and danced by company founders and joint artistic directors, Hannah Ekholm and Faye Stoeser. Performing to a powerful and mainly electronic score, the pair – dressed in gothic-influenced glittering black – gave the world premiere of their new work, Clinquant, this year’s Dicky Buckle Fund new work. The fund, created in memory of the noted dance critic, is supported by Covent Garden Dance Company, to enable the creation of new works by emerging choreographers. The second piece, the mesmeric – almost robotic – Splice, saw the two dancers in shiny black and white, like balletic space travellers!

Each of the dozen pieces – performed in three acts, between the three courses of dinner – showcased exceptional dancers. It was thrilling to see Joy Womack and Xandcer Parish in Stravinsky’s The Firebird, Zai Calliste’s seductively virile Hereafter, and Royal Ballet principals Sarah Lamb and William Bracewell in the enchanting pas de deus from Prokovief’s Cinderella.

Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of Covent Garden Dance Company, which will return with Ballet under the Stars on 24th to 26th July 2026.

 

FC

Photographs by Alice Pennefeather of Emma Hawes and Gareth Haw in the Swan Lake pas de deux, Courtney Celeste Fox, Zai Calliste, Joy Womack and Xander Parish in The Firebird, and Ekleido in Splice © Covent Garden Dance Company.