10 Famous Ballets: A Guide to the Most Iconic Ballets

The following ten ballets are among the most famous of all time. The best ballets have an enduring legacy, so much so that ballet companies still regularly present these popular ballets centuries after their premieres.

1. 1. The Nutcracker (1892): A classic ballet commonly produced around Christmastime, The Nutcracker was originally staged by French choreographer Marius Petipa and Russian choreographer Lev Ivanov. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed the music for the ballet, which premiered in St. Petersburg. It tells the story of Clara, a young girl who shrinks to the size of a mouse, and her nutcracker toy, who comes to life to fight the Mouse King on Christmas Eve. “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” a famous song from the ballet, is often associated with Christmas music.
2. 2. Swan Lake (1877): Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s magnum opus may not have been critically acclaimed when it premiered in Moscow, Russia, but it endures today as a seminal piece of classical ballet. A combination of Russian and German fairy tales, Swan Lake tells the story of Odette, a princess who is cursed and turned into a swan. Julius Reisinger was the original choreographer, but many contemporary ballet companies base their stagings on Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov’s production, an 1895 revival in St. Petersburg.
3. 3. Romeo and Juliet (1938): Ivo Váňa-Psota choreographed this ballet based on William Shakespeare’s famous drama about the titular star-crossed lovers. Sergei Prokofiev composed the score to the ballet that musicalizes one of Shakespeare’s most well-read plays. The first full production of the ballet took place in the Czech Republic.
4. 4. La Sylphide (The Sylph) (1832): This ballet follows the tragic love story of a sylph (an air spirit) and a Scotsman. Choreographer Filippo Taglioni and his daughter, the Romantic ballerina Marie Taglioni, collaborated to bring the first version of this ballet to life. Their choreography has been lost to history, but the second version—choreographed by August Bournonville—is still occasionally performed. This ballet is credited as one of the Romantic period’s first ballets.
5. 5. Coppélia (1870): Arthur Saint-Léon choreographed this comedy of errors featuring a doll come to life and a young man, Franz, who’s fallen for her. Its focus on love and magic is indicative of the Romantic ballet period’s storytelling priorities.
6. 6. Cinderella (1893): This fairy tale was famously musicalized by Baron Boris Fitinhoff-Schell and choreographed by Enrico Cecchetti and Lev Ivanov. The ballet follows Cinderella, a young woman seeking a world outside her cruel stepmother’s home, and the chance encounter with Prince Charming that upends her life. Many interpretations of Cinderella exist, including the Russian ballet version, composed by Sergei Prokofiev and choreographed by Rostislav Zakharov that premiered in Moscow in 1945, and Frederick Ashton’s, whose 1948 production put a comedic spin on the story.
7. 7. Don Quixote (1869): Marius Petipa choreographed this adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes’ famous novel Don Quixote de la Mancha. Ludwig Minkus wrote the music for the ballet that premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. The sprawling piece concerns the adventures of Don Quixote, a romantic self-appointed knight, and his squire Sancho Panza, Quixote's more grounded foil. The ballet closes with one of the canon’s most famous pas de deux (a duet), a dance between the characters Kitri and Basilio.
8. 8. La Bayadère (1877): In La Bayadère, temple dancer Nikiya loves the warrior Solor, but the High Brahmin desires her. Ludwig Minkus wrote the score for this epic love story, which Marius Petipa originally choreographed. The ballet premiered at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in Saint Petersburg.
9. 9. Giselle, ou Les Wilis (Gisele, or The Wills) (1841): Choreographed to the haunting music of Adolphe Adam, this ballet is the story of a peasant girl who finds herself among the ghosts of jilted lovers after she is cast aside by a suitor herself and dies of a broken heart. Its first performances at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris brought together the ballet masters Jules Perrot and Jean Coralli to direct the ballerina Carlotta Grisi in the title role.
10. 10. The Rite of Spring (1913): Vaslav Nijinsky choreographed this ballet, written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company. Igor Stravinsky wrote the music for The Rite of Spring, which was a highly controversial piece. It featured jagged musical rhythms and sexualized movements from the ballet dancers, causing a near-riot on its opening night at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris.

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