World Ballet Day Is Back for 2025
World Ballet Day is back! And this time, it’s raising the “barre” with a new theme. Nearly every year, the 24-hour WBD celebration includes broadcasts of classes, rehearsals, interviews, and performances from ballet companies around the globe. After taking a break in 2024, the event returns on Wednesday, November 12, with a focus on accessibility. According to a press release from The Royal Ballet, this year’s WBD is about more than making ballet available to audiences worldwide; it’s about increasing “radical accessibility” in the art form itself.
“Access Becomes Art: World Ballet Day 2025” encourages ballet companies to present work that promotes accessibility through collaborations embracing disabled perspectives. One example, presented by The Royal Ballet, is a world premiere featuring blind artist and scholar Devon Healey in collaboration with choreographers Sir Wayne McGregor, Tiler Peck, Bim Malcomson, and Rebecca Myles Stewart. Set to a soundscape incorporating Healey’s Immersive Descriptive Audio and music by Max Richter, the piece examines blindness as a stimulus for innovation and creativity. Additionally, Dutch National Ballet will premiere a new work choreographed by DNB coryphée Luca Abdel-Nour: a duet featuring junior company member Javier Cubero with wheelchair dancer Eli Bras.
While in previous years The Royal, San Francisco Ballet, and The Australian Ballet have co-hosted the event, this year each company will present its own response to the WBD theme. As usual, participants will stream footage from their individual platforms.
Viewers can tune in for free via the companies’ websites and social media channels. So set your alarms and join us in tuning in!
Here are the companies participating this year:
Asia Pacific
The Australian Ballet
Ballet Indonesia Foundation
Bangkok City Ballet Company
Korea National Ballet
Queensland Ballet
Europe
Paris Opéra Ballet
Dutch National Ballet
Estonian National Ballet
Norwegian National Ballet
Teatr Wielki/Polish National Ballet
Vienna State Ballet
United Kingdom
Acosta Dance Foundation
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing
Northern Ballet
Royal Academy of Dance
The Royal Ballet
The Royal Ballet School
Americas
American Ballet Theatre
Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico
BalletMet
Boston Ballet
Charlotte Ballet
Houston Ballet
Kansas City Ballet
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
Louisville Ballet
Miami City Ballet
National Ballet of Canada
Sacramento Ballet
San Francisco Ballet
São Paulo Dance Company
Texas Ballet Theater
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