Last Updated on May 24, 2025
Abandon all hope ye who don’t enter
From Homer’s Odessey to Virgil’s Aeneid and Dante’s Divine Comedy there is a clearly traceable line of genius in western storytelling. The latest feet to stand on those immortal shoulders are those of the creative team behind the Royal Opera House’s “The Dante Project.”
Returning from its 2021 debut, “The Dante Project” is a balletic interpretation of Dante’s 14th-century era-defining poem which set out the geography of hell. The Ballet follows Dante and Virgil on their journey past unimaginable tortures, through hell’s seven rings, up into the pious penitence of purgatory and finally into revelation and redemption in heaven.
In keeping with the tradition of the forward journey of creation, Wayne Mcgregor’s choreography has stepped beyond the restrictions of classical ballet. Mcgregor blends in new styles from contemporary dance which, combined with the prodigious talent of the Royal Ballet dancers, makes for unforgettable visuals. In a section of Act I called Ulysses, an evocation of Homer’s hero writhes in joint-defying snakelike crawling on the floor. Astonishing feats of acrobatics and beauty step outside the lace gloves and revel in the potential of modern expression.
William Bracewell was striking as Dante and paired well with the astonishing poise and grace of Fumi Kaneko as Beatrice.
All of this is set on designs by Tacita Dean. Hell is a negative, inverted nightmare with flipped mountains and mirror stages. Dante and Virgil are the only blinks of colour amidst dancers dusted with white chalk, the location of the chalk matches the sins committed, thieves have white hands, lovers white crotches. Onto purgatory and the background becomes plainer, a tree in a normal city whose bright green leaves switch to violet at the moment of ascension to heaven.
Heaven itself is filled with glittering and glowing creatures who fade in and out from smoke around the stage. Stunning moments of staging here as Dante’s red smock is met in Kandinskyan synaesthesia with a brass blare on its entrance. Heaven also features a video reel, distracting at first but if you allow it to fade into the subliminal upper vision with the dancers it becomes like nothing else I’ve ever seen.
The music for The Dante Project was written by contemporary star composer Thomas Adès. Adès’s score is an absolute masterwork blend of contemporary classical, religious chant and romantic era themes from Liszt. Throughout the first act each step, each chunk of the journey is treated to its own sumptuous orchestration, constantly moving and never dull. Throughout hell Adès is a wizard of bathos, without fail, I kept on being sucked into his gorgeous crescendos, building and building towards a final coda. Just as each hair is stood on end and tear ducts are poised at the ready, Adès drops down into a different gear and the entire sensation is changed. I have listened to the LA Philharmonic recording of this score on repeat since it came out but it barely scratches the surface of hearing the real thing. Conductor Jonathan Lo delivered the score beautifully. His evanescent pianissimos fade into nothing like snowflakes in spring.
If you are a fan of dance, theatre, or even just classical music I would recommend you see this show. Or actually, see it twice. I know I will.
The Dante Project will run from November 18 to December 2
The Dante Project
Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden
Bow Street, London, WC2E 9DD
Photos credit Andrej Uspenski
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