BALLET Under the Stars, one of the great delights of the summer in this region, returns to the 17th century walled garden of Hatch House near Tisbury, from 27th to 30th July, with a fourth performance night for the first time.

There is a French theme this year, with the event entitled Étoiles of Paris Opera Ballet & Friends. Last year, when ballet returned to Hatch after the pandemic and lockdowns, the three nights sold out, including principal dancers from the National Ballet of Ukraine, the Royal Ballet, Staatsballett Berlin and young dancers from Paris Opera Ballet.

Ballet Under the Stars, also known as the Glyndebourne of dance, is a red-letter day of the summer social calendar. The shows are presented in the magical walled Dutch garden, which is covered for the event, one of the UK’s most intimate and delightful theatrical settings.

Matt Brady, director of Covent Garden Dance Company and founder and creator of ballet at Hatch, has overseen the production from its naissance as a single night of 160 guests in 2009 to today’s hugely anticipated celebration, with nearly 2,000 guests from all over the world, and this year, over four nights.

The production will feature present and future stars of the Paris Opera Ballet, the ancestral home of classical ballet, which has a lineage tracing back to Henri II, Catherine De’Medici and Louis XIV. The Parisian stars include: Valentine Colasante, Myriam Ould-Braham, Pablo Legasa, Guillaume Diop, Luna Peigné and Michaël Lafon.

Other star dancers include Royal Ballet Principala Francesca Hayward and Cesar Corrales, as well as internationally renowned Hatch favourite Ksenia Ovsyanick, Principal with the Staatsballett Berlin, who returns to dance with Alexandre Cagnat. Mara Galeazzi, former Principal with the Royal Ballet, will be returning to Hatch, dancing a new work with international artist Jason Kittelberger.

The programme will once again have an exciting mix of classical, neo-classical and contemporary ballet and dance works, presented between four courses from a gourmet supper hamper, paired with carefully selected fine wines. The programme will have, as all things within the venue this year, a French nuance.

Guests will be transported within the venue to 1920s Paris, where the Café Folle will serve Parisian cocktails that can be taken into the gardens for a stroll amongst the illuminated ‘twilight trees’. Guests will also be treated to a series of light art installations by special guest artist Hugo Dalton.

After the performance, Café Folle will be transformed into a Parisian speakeasy with performances from singer Faiith Lynch.

Pictured: Fumi Kaneko and Vadim Muntagirov, Royal Ballet Principals; Julia Moskalenko and Stanislav Olshanskyi, Principals of the National Ballet of Ukraine. Photographs by Alice Pennefather.