A Midsummer Night's Dream

Twenty-three years of Italian and international success; after more than one hundred performances, and ten years after its last staging, the Ballet Company of La Scala brings back “its” A Midsummer Night’s Dream . Presented in its European premiere in 2003, with new sets and costumes by Luisa Spinatelli, thanks to this new production and the interpretation of the La Scala artists, Balanchine’s Dream came back to life more radiant than ever: not a restoration — as has been said — but almost a rebirth from its first performance in 1962 in New York City. With absolute genius, George Balanchine conceived two ballets in one: the first act, narrative in nature, develops the Shakespearean story, while the second, a long divertissement , exalts the purest technique and the geometric perfection of the choreographic design. Among elves and fairies, kings and queens, lovers, goblins and enchantments, dance shines forth in the enchanted night born from the imagination of William Shakespeare and Balanchine’s choreographic mastery.