Don Quixote

One of the most popular ballets in classical dance, Don Quixote, in a choreography by José Carlos Martínez, based on the original by Marius Petipa.

This work is a public favourite alongside Swan Lake. Full of joy, colour and expressive power, it breaks away from the world of supernatural or ethereal creatures found in 19th-century classical ballets (despite a ‘white act’), to bring the common people to the stage.

Based on an episode from the second volume of Cervantes’ Don Quixote (Chapter XXI, ‘Where Camacho’s wedding and other delightful events continue…’), the action focuses more on the tumultuous love affair between Quiteria and Basilio than on the adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho themselves, although the characters are more faithful to those created by Cervantes, and the costumes and staging help to give it a more Spanish feel than in Petipa’s version.