La fille mal gardée

I love ballet, and always have done. This Royal Ballet production of Herold's masterpiece is a treasure. The costumes are gorgeous, and the settings are picturesque. The music is wonderful, the Clog Dance is probably the most well-known dance of the ballet, but the opening chicken dance is really quite hilarious and there are some fun comic bits with the proposed suitor as well. The story is very easy to follow, the orchestral playing is vibrant and the conducting precise. But I have to really give praise to the witty choreography, courtesy of the great Frederick Ashton, and the superb dancing, Lesley Collier is an inspired Lise but the best characterisations are that of the mother and the village idiot. All in all, a treasure for anybody into ballet or those introducing themselves to it. 10/10 Bethany Cox