Romeo & Juliet: a new take on a classic love story by Les Grands Ballets

Romeo & Juliet | from March 23 to 27, 2022 - Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
Dancers Hamilton Nieh and Kiara DeNae Felder in the title roles of the doomed lovers of Verona

Romeo & Juliet , presented from March 23rd to the 27th , 2022 at 2 P.M. and 8 P.M.

SALLE WILFRID-PELLETIER, PLACE DES ARTS


Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy of the two ,doomed young lovers of Verona has endured through the centuries and comes back to the stage of Les Grands Ballets de Montreal  in a new version, breaking away from tradition , signed by artistic director Ivan Cavallari this March 23rd to the 27th !

Although true to the original story, Cavallari wanted to add a contemporary twist to the ballet by including new character narratives surrounding the main story.

“We see the interaction between the parents of Romeo and Juliet, as well as other love affairs among secondary characters” explains Mr. Hamilton Nieh.

The use of neoclassical gestures and the fact that the dancers insert elements of their own personality to embody the characters bring a touch of modernity to this classical ballet.

“I’m really myself in this role,” explains Kiara DeNae Felder ( Juliet) in an interview submitted to LEDEVOIR .

Dans une version inédite du classique «Roméo et Juliette» signée par le directeur artistique Ivan Cavallari, l’incontournable histoire de Shakespeare réunira les 47 danseurs de la compagnie. Parmi eux, Hamilton Nieh et Kiara DeNae Felder dans le rôle des amants de Vérone, en répétition sur nos photos.
Photo: Photos Marie-France Coallier Le Devoir

As Ivan Cavallari explains in a behind the scenes video:

To find the inspiration to create Romeo and Juliet, I went back to Dante Alighieri because it is in the Divine Comedy , in the 6th cycle that we encounter the names of Montague and Capulet for the first time.

However it is in the 5th cycle that Dante and Virgilio encounter Francesca and Paolo – a love story with a forced marriage. From there on and until Shakespeare’s version, there were multiple variations of the two love stories. Some writers placed the story in Sienna, until Shakespeare version grounded the story in Verona and the story spread throughout the world…”

” To me Romeo and Juliet is not only a love story but a story of intrigue as well… If we are to enter into Shakespeare’s world , we discover that to make on cry , you also need to make one laugh and to truly touch the human heart, you have to touch all the feelings that human beings express .”

” It is through death, that we find ultimately find truth”


Romeo & Juliet | from March 23 to 27, 2022 - Les Grands Ballets Canadiens

Two young lovers…two rival families .

On the famous notes of Prokofiev, the purity* of Romeo and Juliet’s love comes to life in a breathtaking show that will let the company’s 43 dancers shine this March in Montreal !

*Some scenes may offend the sensibilities of a young audience.

As is born a dream that their love may overcome the hatred of the two clans, their ill-fated destiny looms on the horizon…

Come relive their fate this March 23rd to the 27th at Place des Arts Salle Wilfrid Pelletier

AT 2 P.M. and 8 P.M.


For tickets and more information please visit :

https://am.ticketmaster.com/grandsballets/buy?filterType=2#/