VISIT TO LONDON CITY BALLET Firebird 

Tuesday 7th JULY 2026


London City Ballet’s rehearsals were moved to the Royal Opera House by kind permission of Kevin O’Hare, because of insufficient air conditioning at their own studios in the hot weather. As a result LBC members were split into 2 groups for a run through of Firebird, which features in their forthcoming tour.

It was choreographed by Glen Tetley in 1981 for the Royal Danish Ballet and stayed in the repertoire for a while but has been “lost” for about 40 years. It has been reconstructed using a film of part of the ballet, scratchy film in the Danish archives of a rehearsal without costumes and memories by Mette Hønningen, the original Firebird in this production.

The designs were by John MacFarlane and he has come out of retirement to re-paint the scenery which is being converted by scanning for projected backdrops and also an updating of the costumes with modern fabrics.

Tetley’s choreography used contemporary influences with more floor work, which was unusual at the time for ballet dancers but now part of what dancers consider normal. The scenario is somewhat different as well to the more familiar version. Characters from an Edwardian family change into birds and maidens.

The two groups saw the two Firebird casts of Francesca Velicu and Ellie Young. The company has been able to increase its size from 12 to 16 dancers, needed to do justice to a ballet that seems incredibly modern.

We look forward to the tour, which in addition to venues particularly in France and the US, will visit York (18-19 September), Bath (24-26 September), Cambridge (6-7 October) and Sadlers Wells (22-24 October). Apart from Bath, Firebird will be paired with Ghost Light by John Neumeier, who has been in London working with the company.

A special thanks as always to Christopher Marney for giving LBC special access to the creative process and to take time to explain the background to the work.


Report by Keith White © The London Ballet Circle