About The Performance

Beginning Oct. 16 and running through Oct. 25, Colorado Ballet will present the Spanish tale of Don Quixote. Originally choreographed by Marius Petipa, Don Quixote is a captivating story of windmills, the perfect woman, true love and everything in between. Set to Ludwig Minkus’ moving score, this elaborate production, complete with live music, Don Quixote features the famed “Don Q pas de deux” which is sure to be a highlight of the production.

About Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes’ magnum opus, The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha, is widely considered the first modern novel, and the greatest work of Spanish Literature. Published in two volumes a decade apart, Don Quixote parodies chivalric romance, and serves as Cervantes’ commentary on the church and Spanish class structure. Cervantes was poor until the first volume of Don Quixote was published – the idea for the book may even have germinated when the author was in prison for his financial discrepancies. Such was the popularity of the work that another author published an unauthorized second volume in 1614. Cervantes published the real second part in 1615, and died not long after – on April 23, 1616, the same day as William Shakespeare.

Don Quixote the ballet deals particularly with chapters XIX, XX and XXI in the second part, the story of Quiteria (Kitri), Basilio and Camacho (Gamache). Although the story was made into a ballet as early as 1740 in Vienna, modern productions are based on the choreography of Marius Petipa to music by Leon Minkus in 1869. Alexander Gorsky revived the ballet in the early 1900s with composer Riccardo Drigo, who added variations for Kitri in the Dream Scene and the final pas de deux.

Anna Pavlova danced an abbreviated Don Quixote in England in 1924, and the first full-length Western production premiered at England’s Ballet Rambert in 1962. In 1965, George Balanchine created a new, darker Don Quixote for New York City Ballet, playing Don Quixote, alongside Susan Farrell. Mikhail Baryshnikov created a more traditional full-length at American Ballet Theatre in 1978.

Run Time

Including all intermissions, the expected run time for this production is two hours and fifteen minutes, although when it comes to making reservations, etc., we always suggest you add an extra half hour to the run time to ensure that you have plenty of time.