Bronislava Nijinska’s “Les Noces”, fourth scene, raised stage: Nijinska’s 1966 staging for the Royal Ballet

6; 7. The greatest scene of the Nijinska “Noces” is the fourth and last. After decades when many ballets ended with all-dance happy-ever-after wedding scenes in which Princess and Prince Right danced their love in public, “Les Noces”, by contrast, showed an arranged wedding with no love and no joy, with the newlyweds dancing only a fraction as much as their guests. The main dancing happens in the foreground; but the bridal couple and their parents sit on benches on a small raised triangular stage at the back, the most passive and least dancey people at the ceremony. There is a very brief and limited duet for bride and groom from side to side, a few steps as a token.

In 6, taken by Anthony Crickmay, you see the moment when the Bride advances to the front of the small stage, to address and thank her guests. (Again, you see the beauty and eloquence of Svetlana Beriosova here in this 1966 staging, supervised by Nijinska herself.) In 7, taken by Houston Rogers, the newlyweds sit together in an amalgam of shyness and formality.

Wednesday 3 February

6. Svetlana Beriosova as the Bride, scene 4 of “Les Noces”, Royal Ballet 1966 staging. Photo: Anthony Crickmay.

7. Svetlana Beriosova and Robert Mead as Bride and Bridegroom, flanked by Gerd Larsen and Ray Roberts as the Bride’s parents and Romayne Grigorova and Leslie Edward’s as the Bridegroom’s parents. Photo: Houston Rogers.