The city’s theatrical landscape welcomes a truly unique dance experience that transforms beloved fairy tales into luminous spectacles. Ballet of Lights in Melbourne brings together classical ballet and innovative fibre-optic technology to create performances where every movement sparkles with radiant beauty. Six talented ballet dancers in glittering costumes will wow audiences with graceful choreography enhancing the emotional depth of timeless fairytales.
What is Ballet of Lights?
Ballet of Lights merges ballet’s natural expressiveness with visual technology, creating an art form that welcomes both seasoned ballet enthusiasts and curious newcomers. Each performance features fibre-optic lighting that responds to the dancers’ emotions, gestures, and dramatic moments. The production transforms treasured stories like Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, and Cinderella into accessible 60-minute experiences that captivate audiences without the marathon length of traditional three-hour ballet productions.
Ballet of Lights in Melbourne: Which story is being performed now?
Anyone aged five and above can experience this illuminated dance spectacle in Melbourne this season. New stories continue to join the Ballet of Lights repertoire, ensuring fresh experiences for returning audiences.
Cinderella
Charles Perrault’s 1697 masterpiece “Cendrillon” established the foundation for countless retellings of this transformation tale, whose enduring appeal lies in its universal themes of resilience, hope, and the magical possibility of change. The Ballet of Lights version weaves together selections from Tchaikovsky, Handel, and Rossini, creating a musical tapestry that fuses classical elegance with theatrical vitality. The fibre-optic costumes illuminate Cinderella’s journey from hardship to enchantment, with shifting colour palettes marking her magical transformation and the iconic midnight escape.
Peter Pan
J.M. Barrie’s eternal boy first appeared in “The Little White Bird” in 1902, before taking flight in the 1904 play “Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up”. Barrie later expanded the story into the 1911 novel “Peter and Wendy,” cementing Peter Pan’s place in literary history. Jerome Robbins choreographed the first major ballet adaptation in 1954, recognising how the story’s themes of flight and adventure align perfectly with dance’s expressive possibilities. The Ballet of Lights production features music from Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance No. 5”, as well as excerpts from Mahler’s 4th Symphony.
Sleeping Beauty
The tale of the cursed princess traces back to the French narrative “Perceforest” from 1330-1344. Charles Perrault’s “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood” first brought widespread fame to the story, while the Brothers Grimm contributed “Little Briar Rose” to their 1812 fairy tale collection. Tchaikovsky’s 1889 masterpiece “The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66” remains the gold standard for ballet adaptations. The story’s themes of enchantment and the triumph of good over evil find perfect expression through ballet’s dreamlike movement vocabulary, which you can experience at Ballet of Lights alongside mixed classical pieces.
Ballet of Lights Reviews in Melbourne
Ballet of Lights has enchanted Melbournians who have rated the experience 4 and 5 stars, praising the show for its innovation and display of talent.
“A lovely fairytale unfolds in a lovely short session – visually spectacular” – 13 September
“The dancers were beautiful and the lights were so well done on both costumes and staging. Thank you” – 3 August
“Amazing show by the artist. A lot of effort has gone into the show. Highly recommended.” – 18 May
Ballet of Lights at The Capitol Theatre offers Melbourne audiences a perfect blend of tradition and innovation that captivates both children and adults. These illuminated fairytales create lasting memories while introducing new generations to the beauty of classical storytelling through dance.
With performances designed for modern attention spans and enhanced by visual technology, Ballet of Lights proves that timeless stories continue to find fresh ways to touch our hearts.