Picture This Ballet Trivia Quiz

'The Firebird' was written for the Ballets Russes to perform in Paris, and it premiered on 25 June 1910. The music was composed by Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971). The choreographer was Michael Fokine (1880 - 1942), who had previously been a dancer.

The story was derived from a mixture of Russian folk-tales. The king has asked Prince Ivan and his brothers to capture the firebird who has been stealing the golden apples from the orchard. Ivan freed the firebird, but kept one of her feathers. The story also involves thirteen princesses who are under an evil spell from the immortal Koschei. Ivan falls in love with the youngest princess. He summons the firebird with the feather so that she can use her magic before Koschei turns everyone into stone.

The picture is of a phoenix rising in flames.

'The Nutcracker' is sometimes known as 'Casse-Noisette'. The ballet was commissioned by the director of the Russian Imperial Ballet, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, and premiered in December 1892 in Saint Petersburg. Marius Petipa (1818 - 1910), the choreographer, gave extremely intricate directions, specifying the required tempo and number of bars for each part of the dance, to the composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893).

The story of the ballet is based on adaptation, by Alexander Dumas, of 'The Nutcracker and the Mouse King', originally written by E.T.A Hoffmann. At a Christmas party, Clara and her brother, Fritz, are delighted by some mechanical dolls provided by her godfather. Clara is especially taken with the nutcracker doll, and creeps out of her bed in the middle of the night to see it again. As the clock strikes midnight, the toys come to life, the nutcracker grows to human size, and an army of mice arrive. Clara finds herself in the middle of a fight between the mice, led by their evil king, and the gingerbread men, who are joined by the toy soldiers. As the mice retreat, the nutcracker is transformed into a prince, who takes Clara through a snowy forest to the Land of Sweets. There she is enchanted to watch a series of dances celebrating different sweets from all around the world.

The picture is of some walnuts being cracked open with a pair of nutcrackers.

'The Sleeping Beauty' had its premiere at the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre in January 1899. Tchaikovsky was asked by Ivan Vsevolozhsky to compose the music. As in their later collaboration in 'The Nutcracker', the choreographer, Petipa, gave detailed instructions about the music required for the dances.

The story is based on 'Dornröschen', written in 1812 by the German brothers, Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm. That, however, was taken from Charles Perrault's 'La Belle au bois dormant', published in 1697. At the christening of Princess Aurora, the fairies bestow gifts such as beauty, courage, and sweetness on the baby. The evil fairy, Carabosse, enraged at being left out of the festivities, places a curse on the baby. She will die on her sixteenth birthday, after pricking her finger on a spinning wheel. The lilac fairy, who has still to bestow her gift, is unable to lift the curse, but she changes it so that the princess will sleep for a hundred years instead of dying. Despite, the best efforts of the king and queen, the princess pricks her finger and falls asleep at her sixteenth birthday party. The lilac fairy sends everybody else to sleep, too. A hundred years later a prince is sent by the lilac fairy to wake the princess with a kiss. Everybody else rouses, too, and a wedding is arranged.

The picture shows a spinning wheel, the prick from which caused the princess to sleep for a hundred years.

The first performance of 'Coppelia' was at the Théâtre Impérial l'Opéra, Paris in May 1870. Arthur Saint-Léon (1821 - 1870), from the Saint Petersburg Imperial Ballet, devised the choreography to music composed by Léo Delibes (1836 - 1891). Charles-Louis-Étienne Nuitter (1828 - 1899) devised the story based on 'Der Sandmann', a short story written by E.T.A. Hoffmann.

Swanhilda and Franz had planned to marry during the town festival, but Franz had become infatuated by a girl called Coppelia, who was sitting on the balcony of the house belonging to Dr. Coppelius, an inventor. Determined to win Franz back, Swanhilda and her friends enter the house to discover that Coppelia is one of many life-sized mechanical dolls. The inventor wants to bring Coppelia to life, and determines to give Franz a sleeping potion, and transfer his spirit to the doll. Swanhilda intervenes, and dresses up in the doll's clothes, pretending that the doll is alive. Then she wakes the sleeping Franz, and the pair make their escape, and get married.

The picture shows some dolls, which are neither life-sized nor animated.

'The Rite of Spring' was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes to perform in Paris. Igor Stravinsky (1882 1971) composed the music, and Vaslav Nijinsky (1889/1890 - 1950) devised the choreography for the premiere at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris in 1913.

The ballet is subtitled 'Pictures of Pagan Russia in Two Parts'. It depicts various rituals associated with coming of spring. It ends when the chosen maiden sacrifices herself by dancing until she dies. The ballet was considered very avant-garde, and received mixed reviews from the audience and critics. The music became very popular, but the choreography less so. Léonide Massine (1896 - 1979) was one of the first people to devise a new version in the 1920s.

The picture of spring flowers should have led you to the title.

'Graduation Ball' premiered at the Theatre Royal, Sydney, Australia in March 1940. The choreography was by David Lichine (1910 - 1972), a former dancer. It was set to music which had been composed by Johann Strauss II (1825 1899), and arranged by Antal Doráti (1906 - 1988).

The story is set at a girls' finishing school in Vienna in the 1840s. The headmistress has arranged an evening's entertainment for her girls, and invited the military cadets led by the Old General to join them for the evening. After initial shyness, the girls and the cadets enjoy dancing together, and watching some dance performances. After the young people go to supper, the Headmistress and the Old General dance a Mazurka Flirtation together, and are seen by the returning youngsters. The evening finishes with a flourish and everyone departs happily. The Headmistress and the Old General return to the ballroom to see each other again, and encounter one of the young girls with a cadet on the same mission; the cadet is led out by his ear, and the girl spanked off the stage.

The picture of graduating students is a clue to the title of the ballet.

Sir Frederick Ashton (1904 1988) devised the choreography for 'Les Patineurs'. The ballet was set to music composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791 - 1864) and arranged by Constant Lambert (1905 - 1951). The first performance was in February 1937 at the Sadler's Wells Theatre, London.

There is no particular story. The ballet depicts a series of dances performed at a Victorian skating party on a frozen pond. The scene is illuminated by Chinese lanterns, showing trees silhouetted against a starry sky. Various combinations of the fifteen skaters perform different dances, until, finally, one boy is left dancing a whirling figure in the middle of the pond as the snow starts to fall again.

Les patineurs is French for the skaters, a number of whom can be seen in the picture.

There have been various versions of a ballet using the story of 'Cinderella'. Boris Fitinhof-Schell (1829 - 1901) composed the music for choreography by Enrico Cecchetti (1850 - 1928) and Lev Ivanov (1834 - 1901); this production was first staged at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg in December 1893, but the choreography was unfortunately lost. However, the performance is remembered for an astonishing sequence of thirty-two fouettés by the Italian ballerina Pierina Legnani, dancing as Cinderella.

Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) composed a score for a performance which premiered in November 1945 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. This was choreographed by Rostislav Zakharov (1907 - 1984). Sir Frederick Ashton used the same music for a version which was first staged at the Royal Opera House, London in December 1948.

The story tells of a motherless girl whose father has remarried. The girl's step-mother and step-sisters regard her as a servant, and treat her very badly. As they made her help them get ready for the grand ball at the castle, she dreamed of attending it, too. After they left her fairy godmother appeared and transformed her and various items around, so that she could go to the ball attired in a beautiful gown and riding in carriage, but warned that the magic would stop at midnight. After Cinderella departed the ball in a hurry, the prince set out to find her. When he eventually succeeded, they were married.

The picture shows the coach made from a pumpkin for Cinderella to travel to the ball.

'Swan Lake' was the first ballet for which Tchaikovsky composed the music. Julius Reisinger (1828 - 1893) devised the choreography for the premiere by the Bolshoi Ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow in 1877. After Tchaikovsky died, there was a a revival of the ballet with a revised score by Riccardo Drigo (1846-1930) using choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.

Prince Siegfried has been told that he must marry, and is to choose a bride at the next ball. Unhappy at the prospect of not marrying for love, Siegfried goes off on a hunting trip. He is about to shoot one of a flock of swans, when it suddenly changes into a beautiful girl - Odette. She explains that she and her sisters are under a curse from an evil sorcerer. By day they live as swans; at night they gather by the lake created from their mother's tears, and become girls again. Siegfried and Odette fall in love. The sorcerer disguises his daughter, Odile, as Odette, and takes her to a ball. Siegfried ignores all the other princesses and, thinking she is Odette, swears to love Odile. Odette is distraught and returns to the lake - the curse cannot be broken, now. Siegfried realises his mistake, and returns to Odette; together they drown in the lake.

The picture of a swan swimming on a lake should be quite obvious for the title of the ballet.

'Rodeo' premiered in October 1942 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. The music was composed by Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990), and the choreography was devised by Agnes de Mille (1905 - 1993). Much of the music is based on traditional American folk tunes.

The ballet is in five parts: Buckaroo Holiday, Corral Nocturne, Ranch House Party, Saturday Night Waltz, and Hoe-Down. A lone cowgirl is hoping for attention from the head wrangler, but he only has eyes for the rancher's daughter. The champion roper turns to the cowgirl, after he is unable to wrest the rancher's daughter from the chief wrangler.

The picture of a rodeo leads directly to the title of the ballet.

'Checkmate' is a ballet with music by Sir Arthur Bliss (1891 - 1975), and choreography by Dame Ninette de Valois (1898 - 2001). The first performance was in June 1937 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris.

In the ballet, the chess pieces act as humans. There is conflict between the black pieces and the red pieces. But further problems arise when the black queen gives a rose to the red knight, who becomes infatuated by her. As the aged red king needs assistance from his 'men', the red knight duels with the black queen, but he cannot kill her because of his infatuation. She escapes to stab the red king and kill him.

The picture of a chess board shows the end of the game when the white king has been checkmated.

'The Red Shoes' premiered at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, UK in November 2016. Sir Matthew Bourne (born 1960) devised the choreography for the ballet, using music, arranged by Terry Davies, from various film scores, which were composed by Bernard Herrmann (1911 - 1975).

The story of the ballet is based on the 1948 film of the same name, which was based on Hans Christian Andersen's tale from 1845. A ballerina is talent-spotted by a ballet impresario. He commissions a ballet, based on the fairy-tale, for her to star in. She falls in love with the composer, and has to make a choice between pursuing her career as a dancer or leaving to join her lover. Having chosen the latter, she ekes out a living as a music hall performer. But she is lured back to the ballet company to star in 'The Red Shoes' again. Her lover follows her to win her back. In her confusion, she flees the ballet impresario, but falls under a train and is killed.

The picture of a pair of red shows should have been an easy clue to the title of the ballet.