Essential Ballets (15)

Swan Lake by Nureyev, music by Tchaikovsky

Agnès Letestu (Odette), José Martinez (Siegfried) – Corps de Ballet de l'Opéra national de Paris

Don Quixote by Nureyev after Petipa, music by Minkus

Dorothée Gilbert (Kitri), Karl Paquette (Basilio)... – Paris Opera Ballet

Romeo and Juliet by Nureyev, music by Prokofiev

Monique Loudières (Juliet), Manuel Legris (Romeo), Charles Jude (Tybalt), Lionel Delanoë (Mercutio) – Corps de Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris

Bolero and other works by Maurice Béjart

The Orangery Nights – Béjart Ballet Lausanne

• Château de Versailles (Versailles, France)

Giselle by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, music by Adolphe Adam

Laëticia Pujol (Giselle), Nicolas Le Riche (Albrecht) – Corps de ballet de l'Opéra national de Paris

The Nutcracker by Vainonen after Petipa and Ivanov, music by Tchaikovsky

Alina Somova (Masha the Princess), Vladimir Shklyarov (The Nutcracker Prince), Alexandra Korshunova (Masha)... – Mariinsky Theater Ballet Company

• Mariinsky Theatre (St. Petersburg, Russia)

La Bayadère by Marius Petipa, new staging by Yuri Grigorovich, music by Léon Minkus

Svetlana Zakharova (Nikiya), Vladislav Lantratov (Solor), Maria Alexandrova (Gamzatti) – Corps de Ballet of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia

Nutcracker by Patrice Bart after Marius Petipa, music by Tchaikovsky

Daniel Barenboim (conductor) – Staatsoper Berlin

• Staatsoper Berlin (Berlin, Germany)

Cinderella by Rudolf Nureyev, music by Sergei Prokofiev

Agnès Letestu (Cinderella), José Martinez (The movie star) – Corps de Ballet de l'Opéra national de Paris

Sleeping Beauty by Marius Petipa, music by Tchaikovsky

Alina Cojocaru (Princess Aurora), Federico Bonelli (Prince Florimund), Christopher Saunders (King Florestan XXIV) – The Royal Ballet

• Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (London, Great Britain)

Jewels by Balanchine, music by Fauré, Stravinsky, and Tchaikovsky

With the Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra

• Mariinsky Theatre (St. Petersburg, Russia)

The Pharaoh's Daughter by Marius Petipa and Pierre Lacotte, music by Pugni

With Svetlana Zakharova (Aspicia) and Sergei Filin (Lord Wilson/Taor) – Bolshoi Ballet

• Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow, Russia)

Coppélia by Patrice Bart, music by Léo Delibes

With Dorothée Gilbert (Swanilda), José Martinez (Coppélius) and Mathias Heymann (Frantz)

L'Histoire de Manon by MacMillan, music by Jules Massenet

Tamara Rojo (Manon), Carlos Acosta (Des Grieux) – The Royal Ballet

• Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (London, Great Britain)

Giselle, Les Sylphides, and Coppélia, three of the greatest ballets

With Rudolf Nureyev, Nadia Nerina and Margot Fonteyn