What a day World Ballet Day was! Did you miss it? Fret not! Archived footage links are below. And to help the celebration continue, enjoy Off Balance for FREE all week long! The award-winning Outside the Limelight is $2.99 and the brand new, just-released A Dancer’s Guide to Africa is only 99 cents today (tomorrow it will revert to its regular price).
Royal Opera House, The Royal Ballet, London
12:00-17:00 BST (UTC +1hr)
This year’s 5-hour segment is available on YouTube HERE
The Australian Ballet, Melbourne
This year’s 5-hour segment is available on YouTube HERE
Большой театр России / Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow
09:00-14:00 MSK (UTC +3hrs)
This year’s 5-hour segment is [partially] available on YouTube HERE.
Dutch National Ballet
This year’s 45-minute segment is available on YouTube HERE
Here’s the original post from September
Prepare yourself, dear readers, because World Ballet Day is here again! Save the date: Tuesday October 2nd, around the world. (Note! Oct 2nd in Australia is Mon evening, Oct 1st in North America!)
There is some good news and some bad news for 2018. The good: well, it’s obvious. There’s yet another World Ballet Day! The bad news: the San Francisco Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada won’t be participating. {{Sobs!}} But I have a hunch it’s still going to be a rollicking great day, filled with the kind of stuff we ballet fanatics can’t get enough of: watching company class at the Australia Ballet, The Bolshoi, London’s Royal Ballet and guest companies. There will be interviews, rehearsals, footage from other ballet companies around the world, more rehearsals, more interviews, and lots and lots of exposure to the professional ballet world behind the scenes, which is my favorite part of all. Really, where would be all be without World Ballet Day, now in its fifth year? A big shouted out THANK YOU, to Royal Ballet, without whose efforts there wouldn’t be this amazing event.
This year’s event will be streamed live on Facebook; simply go to the [Australian, Bolshoi, Royal] Ballet’s Facebook pages that I’ve linked above.
New info on 9/22: here are the guest companies who will be making an appearance during the event: Houston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico, Acosta Danza, Bayerisches Stattsballett, Dutch National Ballet, Paris Opéra Ballet, Polish National Ballet, Queensland Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Northern Ballet, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Scottish Ballet, National Ballet of Japan, Norwegian National Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Vienna State Ballet and West Australian Ballet. You can find times for these companies way down below. Just scroll to the end.
(For a real-time version of the above, click HERE.)
Here’s the biggest question I get asked over and over: “When does it begin and what are the times for each company? And what is the time in my time zone?”
Stop 1 is Melbourne and the Australian Ballet. When the world-wide event kicks off at 11am in Melbourne on Tues Oct 2nd it looks like this for the rest of the time zones:
- Moscow 4am Tues Oct 2
- UTC/GMT* 1am Tues Oct 2
- London 2am Tues Oct 2
- New York 9pm Mon Oct 1
- San Francisco 6pm Mon Oct 1
*In case you’re scratching your head, “UTC” is what Greenwich Mean Time is now called. I’m thinking it stands for “Universal Time Coordinated.”
Stop 2 is Moscow and the Bolshoi on Tues Oct 2nd. After the Australian Ballet streams its five-hour segment, this portion will begin at 9am local time, which looks like this for the rest of the time zones.
- Melbourne 4pm
- UTC/GMT 6am
- London 7am
- New York 2am
- San Francisco 11:00pm (Oct 1st)
Stop 3 is London and the Royal Ballet. After the Bolshoi completes its five-hour segment, the Royal Ballet’s 12 noon start looks like this for the rest of the time zones:
- UTC/GMT 11am
- Melbourne 9pm
- Moscow 2pm
- New York 7am
- San Francisco 4am
… But wait, there’s more!
Remember how we were bummed upon learning that National Ballet of Canada and San Francisco Ballet weren’t able to participate this year? The good news is, the following companies are stepping up to the plate to contribute. Yay! The bad news is that you have to now figure out the times for yourself. (Remember what I said about UTC? If you’re confused as to what that looks like compared to your time zone, here’s that nifty clock comparison link HERE.)
Ballet Concierto De PR, San Juan – 10:00-10:15 AST (UTC -4hrs)
Acosta Danza, Cuba – 12:00-12:40 EDT (UTC -4hrs) (Technical difficulties – boo hoo!)
Houston Ballet, Texas – 12:30-13:30 CDT (UTC -5hrs)
Pacific Northwest Ballet , Seattle – 11:00-11:30 PDT (UTC -7hrs)
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York – 15:00-15:30 EDT (UTC -4hrs)
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal – 16:00-17:00 EDT (UTC -4hrs)
To reiterate, each company’s segment will run live on their Facebook page. After the event is over, we’re being told that the archived footage will be available on YouTube. Whether that’s three minutes after the event, or three hours, or three days, we will find out on The Big Day. Check with me here after the fact and I will share any links I find. Meanwhile, want archived footage and/or details and descriptions about past World Ballet Days? Check out my coverage of the event for 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 (just click on the year).
And one last bit of exciting news. Coincidentally, Oct 2nd is the release date for my newest novel, entitled A DANCER’S GUIDE TO AFRICA. What could be more perfect? Two reasons to celebrate the day! In fact, let’s start the celebration early, shall we? My publishers have agreed to lower the price to 99 cents from now (on preorder) through World Ballet Day. Take advantage of this offer while you can, because after that day (and maybe we’ll throw in one extra day to be nice), the price will return to $4.99. And hey, check back on World Ballet Day for some news on can’t-miss-this bargains with my other two ballet novels. OUTSIDE THE LIMELIGHT and OFF BALANCE.
**Update on more times for guest companies. And once again, that clock link HERE.
The National Ballet of Japan, Tokyo – 11:00-11:15 JST (UTC +9hrs)
West Australian Ballet , Perth – 14:30-14:40 AWST (UTC +8hrs)
Queensland Ballet, Brisbane – 15:00-16:00 AEST (UTC+10hrs)
Royal New Zealand Ballet, Wellington – 15:00-16:00 NZST (UTC +12hrs)
Nasjonalballetten UNG / Norwegian National Ballet 2, Oslo – 14:00 – 14:30 CEST (UTC +2hrs)
The Royal Danish Ballet, Copenhagen – 14:15-14:45 CEST (UTC +2hrs)
Bayerisches Staatsballett, Munich – 14:30-15:00 CEST (UTC +2hrs)
Das Stuttgarter Ballettt, Stuttgart – 15:00-15:30 CEST (UTC +2hrs)
Wiener Staatsballett, Vienna – 15:15-15:45 CEST (UTC +2hrs)
Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris, Paris – 15:30-16:00 CEST (UTC +2hrs)
Het Nationale Ballet – Dutch National Ballet, Amsterdam – 16:00-16:30 CEST (UTC +2hrs)
Kungliga Svenska balettskolan/ The Royal Swedish Ballet School, Stockholm – 16:15-16:45 CEST (UTC +2hrs)
Teatr Wielki – Opera Narodowa, Warsaw – 17:00-17:30 CEST (UTC +2hrs)
Scottish Ballet, Glasgow – 11:00-11:30 BST (UTC +1hr)
Birmingham Royal Ballet – 13:00-13:30 BST (UTC +1hr)
English National Ballet, London – 14:00-14:30 BST (UTC +1hr)
Royal Academy of Dance, London – 14:30-15:00 BST (UTC +1hr)
Northern Ballet, Leeds – 16:00-16:30 BST (UTC +1hr)
Ballet Concierto De PR, San Juan – 10:00-10:15 AST (UTC -4hrs)
Acosta Danza, Cuba – 12:00-12:40 EDT (UTC -4hrs)
Houston Ballet, Texas – 12:30-13:30 CDT (UTC -5hrs)
Pacific Northwest Ballet , Seattle – 11:00-11:30 PDT (UTC -7hrs)
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York – 15:00-15:30 EDT (UTC -4hrs)
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal – 16:00-17:00 EDT (UTC -4hrs)
I’ve never seen this before but it’s how I noticed your blog last year. And thank you for the time chart.
You’re so welcome, Jess, and be sure to pop by again, the day before the event, to confirm the various times of starting/stopping. I’m waiting for the official word on that kind of thing.