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The most beautiful Christmas ballets
It’s the time of year when the country’s best ballet companies bring out their top productions – from The Sleeping Beauty to The Nutcracker. We’ve brought together some of the best moments from our favourite Christmas ballets taking place this winter…
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1. The Nutcracker
Ballet doesn’t get more festive than this: Tchaikovsky’s ballet opens on Christmas Eve, when the young protagonist, Clara, is given a nutcracker as a gift… Pictured: Boshoi Ballet. Photo: Damir Yusupov
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2. The Nutcracker's Sugar Plum Fairy
At midnight the toys come to life and the nutcracker prince whisks Clara to the land of the sweets – where she meets the Sugar Plum Fairy, here danced by Roberta Marquez (with Steven McRae) of The Royal Ballet. Photo: Bill Cooper courtesy of ROH
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3. The Sleeping Beauty
Tchaikovsky’s enchanting re-telling of the classic fairy tale may not be set at Christmas, but the happy-ever-after and cast of fairy-tale characters ticks that feel-good box. Pictured: The Bolshoi Ballet. Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images
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4. Sleeping Beauty by the Bolshoi
The enchanting story of the princess who falls asleep for 100 years is the perfect ballet for Christmas.
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5. Edward Scissorhands
Tim Burton’s modern fable about an otherworldly man with scissors for hands has been re-imagined by the visionary choreographer Matthew Bourne. Photo: Johan Persson
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6. Edward Scissorhands at Sadler's Wells
Liam Mower as Edward Scissorhands in Matthew Bourne's ballet. Photo: Johan Persson
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7. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
A new arrival to the festive ballet scene, The Royal Ballet’s production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is as imaginative and witty as you’d expect from choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. Photo: Johan Persson
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8. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland – The Queen of Hearts
Zenaida Yanowsky as the Queen of Hearts in The Royal Ballet's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'. Photo: Johan Persson
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9. The Wind in the Willows
Choreographer Will Tuckett’s charming adaptation of this children’s classic has become a Christmas mainstay. Photo: Johan Persson
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10. Wind in the Willows – with Alan Titchmarsh
And in the current production Classic FM’s very own Alan Titchmarsh is narrating! Photo: Johan Persson
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11. The Little Match Girl
Another Christmas weepy, Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Little Match Girl’ has been made into a beautiful Christmas ballet by choreographer Arthur Pita. Photo: Phil Conrad
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12. The Little Match Girl
A moving story of a little girl's hopes and dreams – and it all takes place on Christmas Eve. Photo: Phil Conrad
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13. The Snowman
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without The Snowman – and this ballet version of Raymond Briggs’s charming story ticks all the Christmas boxes. The score, by Howard Blake, includes the classic ‘Walking in the Air’.
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14. The Snowman
Nothing says Christmas more than Raymond Briggs's 'The Snowman' brought to life on stage. Festive bliss.
