Les Ballet de Monte-Carlo’s full length Cendrillon will come to the Hangzhou Theatre stage in Zhejiang province’s capital city of Hangzhou on Wednesday.

Jean-Christophe Maillot

The performance will run from October 21 to October 23. Tickets can be booked for the following prices: RMB280/580/880/1280/1680280/580/880/1280/1680.

Cendrillon will be performed by the Royal Ballet Group of Monte Carlo, one of Monaco’s administrative areas.

In 1911 the company was presented under founder Sergei Diaghilev's own name. For 20 years Diaghilev and his collaborators - some of the most important writers, composers and painters of the day, choreographers and dancers set the international ballet fashion. Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo became the official company of the Principality of Monaco in 1985, reestablished by Her Royal Highness the Princess of Hanover in accordance with the wishes of her mother, Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco. In 1992, Jean-Christophe Maillot joined the company and was appointed Director Choreographer in 1993. His great works include Romeo & Juliet, Cendrillon and Altro Canto. These masterpieces helped consolidate the ballet company's style as "neoclassic".

Cendrillon was created by Maillot in 1999. The world-famous book Cinderella has been adapted into ballets several times in different styles. But Maillot's Cendrillon focuses on aestheticism and music itself, which makes it a great example of neoclassic ballet. In Cinderella, it is the young girl's foot more than the "glass slipper" which is the structural component of the tale. As such, it is shown throughout the ballet under a special light, when the fairy transforms Cinderella to go to the ball, and naked and isolated by the light when Cinderella arrives at the ball. It is the print of this foot which urges the Prince to travel, to break off from his closed world to start the quest for other places. Finally, it is from the shape of her foot that the Prince recognizes her, kneeling, for the first time and regardless of the protocol, "at the feet" of someone. It is the magic symbol of recognition and humility; it is also the dancer's leaning point, from which he gathers his strength, balance and elevation.

By Lucy