Ston Easton Park to Host Ballet in the Park this Summer

Ston Easton is set to host its glorious Ballet in the Park event this summer in what promises again to be an intimate evening of high culture, a sophisticated atmosphere and world class performances.

A magical night awaits visitors to Ston Easton in July when they play host to one of the crowning glories in their social calendar. In association with the Covent Garden Dance Company, Ballet in the Park takes place on 19 and 20 July and will include a superb three-course dinner under the summer stars and a stretch canopy especially arranged for this outdoor occasion.

Matt Brady, Creative director at Covent Garden Dance Company, says: “The aim of the event is to bring world-class ballet and dance to unique and beautiful rural locations. We are taking this incredible craft out of the theatre and presenting it at stunning locations like Ston Easton, which complement the art – and is an wonderful experience.

“We create an evening around a threecourse dinner with sections of performance with three short performances in each section - the pieces range from very classical through to the wonderfully contemporary. We try to ensure that the programme is equally accessible to people who have not experienced dance as for those who have. We aim to create new works to show each year and we invite some of the greatest dancers in the world to come and perform some of their most famous pieces from their repertoire or their company's repertoire. Eighty per cent of the audience have never been to see ballet or dance before, we see every type of person at the events, from eight to 80.”



The pieces commissioned for this year's event include three works by choreographer Vitali Safronkine. Performers will include Oleksander Ryabko and Sylvia Azzoni from Hamburg Ballet. “Each year our audience doubles – so we must be doing something right – we hope and expect this year to be a sell-out,” adds Matt.

Head Author, screenwriter and playright Charlotte Bingham remembers a magical summer night under the stars at the 2012 Ballet in the Park

“As everyone will doubtless remember 2012 was one of the wettest summers ever, but on the night that we attended the Ston Easton ballet gala, the weather turned kindly, and we sashayed forth to be given glasses of
champagne or wine in front of that beautiful eighteenth century house. Prettily costumed guests were served by attentive waiters, and the lighting around the house flattered and cajoled everyone into the right mood for what was to come.

“A perfect start for what turned out to be not just an original, but a thrilling evening. The concept of bringing ballet into the audience, rather than being viewed from far away, as most of us have seen it before - is both original and fascinating. To view such grace and beauty, and such artistry so close is, it has to be said, oddly moving. The timing of the dinner courses between each short ballet perfectly catered to all tastes, and the wonder on the faces of the audience as they watched the dancers was, in itself, beautifully enlivening.

“Suffice it to say that we and everyone at our table could not wait to come back to enjoy another evening as fine. We all agreed that it was a fantastic privilege to see ballet at such close quarters, dancers who spend their lives in the harshest of disciplines, brought with them on to that small stage a beauty which was breathtaking. Congratulations to Ston Easton and its staff for laying on such a spectacularly beautiful evening.”

Tickets Include champagne table wine with 3 course meal and the Ballet- £115.00. https://www.stoneaston.co.uk