The triennial "World Ballet Festival" celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, bringing dancers from all over the world to Tokyo Bunka Kaikan from July 29-Aug. 17 to perform both classical pieces and newly commissioned short works getting their world premiere.
As part of the festival's inaugural lineup in 1976, three then-outstanding talents of the ballet world, Margot Fonteyn, Maya Plisetskaya and Alicia Alonso, took to the same stage. This year, meanwhile, boasts a solid enough roster for some performances to have already sold out.
The "World Ballet Festival" has built up a reputation as much for its one-off pairings as for staging dancers from the same companies. Included in the former category as part of the festival's Program B are Sylvie Guillem of The Royal Ballet in London and Nicolas Le Riche of The Paris Opera Ballet who will dance the pas de deux from Act III of "Die Kameliendame." Guillem was made an Etoile by Rudolf Nureyev in 1984 while a dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet. Le Riche would join the same company four years later as a 16-year-old.
Ticket prices for Program A (Aug. 3-4, 6 p.m. and Aug. 5-6, 3 p.m.) and Program B (Aug. 8-11, 6 p.m.) range from 7,000-25,000 yen yen. For the gala performance on Aug. 13 (3 p.m.), tickets are 8,000-28,000 yen yen. For the full schedule, visit www.nbs.or.jp and to purchase tickets, call 03 5521-8000.
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