The Royal Ballet pairs two twentieth-century landmarks, Jerome Robbins's Dances at a Gathering and Kenneth MacMillan's Song of the Earth, for eight performances at Covent Garden from 9 November, with Marianela Nuñez leading the first night. Here is everything you need to know before you book.
Two of the twentieth century's great choreographers share an evening on the Main Stage this November. Visionaries: Robbins and MacMillan brings Jerome Robbins's Dances at a Gathering and Kenneth MacMillan's Song of the Earth to the Royal Opera House from Monday 9 November to Saturday 28 November 2026, eight performances conducted by Koen Kessels. The two works share a past at Covent Garden: it was MacMillan, then directing The Royal Ballet, who brought the Robbins piece into the company's repertory in October 1970.
Who is starring in Visionaries: Robbins and MacMillan?
The Royal Ballet has published casting for the whole run, and it draws on most of the principal list. The three central roles in Song of the Earth rotate between three groups. Marianela Nuñez, William Bracewell and Patricio Revé dance the opening night and return on 24 November and the closing evening; Lauren Cuthbertson, Matthew Ball and Ryoichi Hirano take 17 and 20 November and the final matinee; and Melissa Hamilton, Giacomo Rovero and Lukas B. Brændsrød dance on 12 and 23 November. John Findon sings at all eight performances, partnered by Beth Taylor or Fleur Barron.
Dances at a Gathering names its dancers by the colours they wear. Yasmine Naghdi and Francesca Hayward alternate in Pink, Fumi Kaneko and Mayara Magri in Mauve, and Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Meaghan Grace Hinkis in Apricot. Among the men, Marcelino Sambé and Cesar Corrales share Brown, Reece Clarke and Leo Dixon Purple, and Luca Acri and Taisuke Nakao Brick. The Green and Blue roles go to Sarah Lamb, Akane Takada, Joseph Sissens, Leticia Dias, Harris Bell, Ella Newton Severgnini, Daichi Ikarashi and Vadim Muntagirov, whose Swan Lake pas de deux was singled out by almost every critic at A Centenary Celebration on the same stage this month, as our review roundup records.
Spotlight on Marianela Nuñez
A principal of The Royal Ballet for more than two decades, Marianela Nuñez leads the first night of Song of the Earth. Born in Buenos Aires, she trained at the Teatro Colón Ballet School and danced with the Teatro Colón company before coming to London, where she joined The Royal Ballet Upper School in 1997 and the company a year later. Promotion to First Soloist followed in 2000, and to Principal in 2002. Since then Nuñez has danced the leading roles across the classical, dramatic and contemporary repertory, the ballets of MacMillan and Robbins among them. Her 2013 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance recognised her performance in Viscera and the roles created on her in Aeternum and 'Diana and Actaeon'. The Critics' Circle has named her Best Female Dancer four times, most recently in 2022, and she was appointed OBE in 2024 for services to dance. Her nights in Visionaries: Robbins and MacMillan are 9 and 24 November and the evening of 28 November.
What is Visionaries: Robbins and MacMillan about?
Neither ballet tells a story in the usual sense. Dances at a Gathering, made by Robbins in 1969, is a sequence of plotless dances to Chopin's piano music: solos, duets and larger groupings for ten dancers, each passage catching a different mood among people who seem to know one another well. It is the lighter half of the evening, and the more conversational.
Song of the Earth, from 1965, is the weightier half. MacMillan set it to Mahler's song cycle, whose words come from Hans Bethge's The Chinese Flute, a collection drawn from Chinese poems of the eighth century, and his choreography turns on the brevity of life and the nearness of death. The songs are sung live, so the evening asks for two singers as well as a full orchestra and a solo pianist.
Who is behind the production?
Dances at a Gathering is choreographed by Jerome Robbins, with costumes by Joe Eula and lighting by Jennifer Tipton. Song of the Earth is choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan, designed by Nicholas Georgiadis and lit by Jacopo Pantani. Koen Kessels conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, and Robert Clark is the solo pianist for the Chopin. The programme is part of The Royal Ballet's 2026/27 season.
When and where can I see it?
The run opens on Monday 9 November 2026 at 7.30pm and closes on Saturday 28 November 2026, which has a 1pm matinee and a 7pm evening performance; the other dates are Thursday 12, Tuesday 17, Friday 20, Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 November, all at 7.30pm. Every performance is on the Main Stage at Covent Garden, and the evening lasts about 2 hours and 40 minutes including one interval. The Royal Ballet rates the programme suitable for all, but children under five are not admitted, and older children need a ticket of their own and must sit with an adult.
Tickets for Visionaries: Robbins and MacMillan currently start at £28 on our show page. With the casting fixed in advance, it is worth choosing the night by the dancers you most want to see.
What else should I book if I like it?
The natural companion is MacMillan's own Manon, in The Royal Ballet's repertory at Covent Garden this autumn and a full-length counterpart to the abstraction of Song of the Earth. On the same stage, Damiano Michieletto's staging of Carmen runs until 21 November, and our guide to that production has the casting.
For dance of an entirely different temperature, Germán Cornejo's Tango After Dark brings Argentine tango and the music of Astor Piazzolla to Sadler's Wells from 5 to 9 November, just before this run begins. And for Christmas, English National Ballet's The Nutcracker returns to the London Coliseum.
