The American dancer and choreographer, Agnes de Mille, once said, ”The truest expression of a people is in its dance and in its music. Bodies never lie.”

Ballet has the power to evoke strong emotions through its storytelling, choreography, music, and performances.

A Classic Story Ballet, also known as Story Ballet or Narrative Ballet, refers to ballets that follow a storyline. These are the bread and butter of any ballet repertoire, and they are firm favorites for good reason. They are often based on fairytales and magical myths, featuring recognizable characters and full set designs and costumes, which make them eye-catching and easy to follow.

Here are some of the greatest Classic Story Ballets ever conceived.

Swan Lake

Tchaikovsky’s 1875 work remains one of the most popular ballets ever written and contains the famous pieces ”Dance of the Little Swans” and the instantly recognizable Act I Waltz.

The curtain first opened on Swan Lake in 1877 with choreography by Julius Reisinger; however, the most influential version was choreographed by Marius Petipa.

The ballet, inspired by Russian and German folk tales, tells the story of the doomed love of Prince Siegfried and Princess Odette.

Prince Siegfried goes out hunting one night and chases a group of swans. One of them transforms into a young woman, Odette, who explains that she and her companions were turned into swans by the evil Baron Von Rothbart. The spell can only be broken if someone who has never loved before swears an oath of undying love and promises to marry her. The Prince declares his love to Odette and promises to be loyal forever.

At a grand reception at the palace, the Prince must choose a bride – but he can think only of Odette. Suddenly, a fanfare announces the arrival of two guests, one of whom is Odette. The Prince dances with her and asks for her hand in marriage. But it’s not Odette! The mystery woman is the daughter of the evil von Rothbart, Odile, the seductive and deceptive Black Swan. Odette has witnessed the whole scene. Too late, Siegfried realizes his mistake.

At this point in the ballet, plotlines differ, with many variations on the tragic ending. The Mariinsky Ballet was the exception, as they performed a version, first created in the 1950s, with a happy ending.

Interesting fact: As well as the famous cygnets dance, Swan Lake also includes some of ballet’s most famous moments, including ”The Black Swan Pas de Deux” and ”The Dying Swan.”

Relive a performance in Vienna that went down in ballet history 60 years ago, when a young Rudolf Nureyev staged his legendary interpretation of Swan Lake.

Sleeping Beauty

Tchaikovsky’s now iconic ballet first premiered in 1890, choreographed by Marius Petipa.

Telling the traditional fairytale of a princess cursed to sleep for 100 years awaiting true love’s first kiss, Sleeping Beauty remains one of Tchaikovsky’s most popular works today. It is also his longest ballet, totaling nearly four hours (including intermissions). As a result, the ballet is almost always cut.

The ravishing waltz is one of the most joyous and uplifting pieces of classical music, as well as one of the best-known. It comes towards the beginning of the ballet, during a grand ball thrown for the 16th birthday of the protagonist, Princess Aurora.

Interesting fact: The ballet is said to have been the first ever seen by an eight-year-old Anna Pavlova, who would become one of the world’s greatest ballerinas of all time.

Giselle

Giselle is a Romantic ballet, written by French composer and music critic, Adolphe Adam (also famous for the Christmas carol ”O Holy Night”) and choreographed originally by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot.

The popular ballet’s plot revolves around the ghosts of maidens deceived and lost, and it has a fittingly haunting score.

The protagonist is a young peasant girl, Giselle, who falls foul of loving a disguised nobleman named Albrecht. His true identity is inevitably revealed, causing the death of Giselle by heartbreak. In death, she is summoned into the Wilis sisterhood where fellow deceased unmarried women, stung by betrayal, take revenge on men by dancing them to death.

Interesting fact: The lead role of Giselle is one of the most sought-after, as it demands a high level of technique, grace, and drama skills.

The Nutcracker

Audiences in St Petersburg were promised ”a fairy-tale ballet” in the winter of 1892 when, all around the city, posters began to appear advertising the much-anticipated new project from Tchaikovsky. He had been commissioned to set to music a popular family story called ”The Nutcracker and the Mouse-King.”

The last of Tchaikovsky’s three beloved ballets, The Nutcracker is a magical Christmas fairytale and has endured as one of the most-performed ballets all over the world.

Young Clara, having been given an anthropomorphic nutcracker as a gift, falls asleep and enters a dreamworld, where her nutcracker is a prince who goes to war with the evil Mouse King. The greatest delights come in the introduction of the inhabitants of the Land of the Sweets, a dancing journey around the world for dessert lovers.

From the elegant ”Waltz of the Flowers” to the thrilling ”Russian Dance” the score is a feast of wonderful melodies. Other favorites include the ”Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” and the ”Dance of the Reed Flutes.”

The ravishing music, romantic imagery, and brightly-costumed festive scenes make it not only the ideal introduction to ballet and classical music for all but also the perfect tradition for Christmastime.

Learn how The Nutcracker went from a total flop to a seasonal favorite in our article Why is the Nutcracker so Famous?

Romeo and Juliet

Composer Sergei Prokofiev set ”the greatest love story ever told” to music in 1935.

Upon meeting with the ballet company performing the piece, Prokofiev expressed his wish to find a lyrical scenario for a ballet and the love stories of Pelléas and Méllisande, Tristan and Isolde and Romeo and Juliet were cited.

”I immediately ‘clung’ onto the latter,” Prokofiev later said. ”It would be impossible to find a better one!”

The demanding ballet was first performed in 1940 and features the enduringly popular ”Dance of the Knights,” also known as ”Montagues and Capulets.”

A number of chorographers have tried their hand at different versions of this tale – Graeme Murphy, Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan, Matthew Bourne, and more – all creating gorgeous interpretations thanks to Prokofiev’s majestic score.

If you’re a long-time ballet lover, or looking to dip your toes into classic ballet repertoire, these five famous Story Ballets are a great place to start. You can watch these ballets and many more on Marquee TV.

Marquee TV titles featured in this article:

Rudolf Nuryev’s Swan Lake
Sleeping Beauty – The Royal Ballet
Giselle – The Royal Ballet
The Nutcracker – The Royal Ballet
The Nutcracker – New York City Ballet
Romeo and Juliet – The Australian Ballet