"Celebrate the beauty, passion, splendour of dance ..."

That is what `The Artists of the Royal Ballet' want Bermuda Festival audiences to do during their three performances at the Ruth Seaton James Centre for the Performing Arts, the first of which is tonight.

Indeed, presenter Andrew Ward, dancer/choreographer Wayne Sleep and choreographer Vanessa Fenton have assembled a galaxy of artists from the company to present these gala evenings of dance.

Based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, The Royal Ballet is Britain's most prestigious ballet company, whose 80-strong troupe is acknowledged to be reaching a new artistic and technical peak with talented dancers at all levels of its ranks.

The company's wide-ranging repertoire showcases the great classical ballets, including The Royal Ballet's own heritage alongside new works by its own and other leading international choreographers of today. Local audiences can look forward to not only excerpts from the great classics including `Raymonda', `Swan Lake', `La Fille mal Gard?e', `Nutcracker', and `Sleeping Beauty' but also contemporary works, such as `Frozen' and `Ad Infinitum' choreographed by Miss Fenton, and `Bourneville and Cream' and `The Hot Tap' choreographed and danced by Mr. Sleep.

In addition, Bermuda has the honour of witnessing the world premi?re of Miss Fenton's `Absolutely Not', a pas de deux danced to the music of Prokofiev.

Royal Ballet dancers who will be performing here are: Marianela Nu?ez (principal), Gemma Bond, Natalie Decorte, Martin Harvey (soloist), Victoria Hewitt, Bethany Keating, Natasha Oughtred, Samantha Raine, Johannes Stepanek and Thomas Whitehead. Miss Nu?ez, who began dancing at age three in her native Argentina, has enjoyed an impressive career. She joined The Royal Ballet in 1998 at age 16 and was made a Principal in 2002. In addition to dancing many classical roles, she has also created other roles, and this season made her debut as Kitri in Nureyev's production of `Don Quixote' among many others.

In addition to helping to devise the Bermuda gala, Wayne Sleep, OBE, will dance to his own choreography in several works, and also compere. A scholarship-winning graduate of The Royal Ballet School, Mr. Sleep became a principal dancer in 1973. He appeared in more than 50 major roles, some of which were created especially for him. As a choreographer, he has also designed productions for the San Francisco Ballet and the English National Ballet, as well as numerous others for stage, television and film. He has toured the world with his own ballet company, DASH, has published two dance-related books, including his autobiography, and established the Wayne Sleep Dance Scholarship (a charity) to assist aspiring dancers with their tuition, and conducts workshops internationally. His multi-faceted career also includes acting.

Presenter Andrew Ward trained at The Royal Ballet School, and joined The Royal Ballet in 1978. His extensive career included solo roles, and he was chosen by Sir Frederick Ashton as a soloist for the Queen Mother's 80th birthday gala.

A former Boston Ballet soloist, he joined the English National Ballet in 1989 before retiring as a dancer. He has devised and produced several royal dance galas with Mr. Sleep which were attended by Diana, Princess of Wales and Princess Margaret. Mr. Ward is current Director of Development at the Royal Academy of Dancing in England.

`The Artists of The Royal Ballet' will present the same programme for all three of its consecutive performances, the first of which is tonight at 8 p.m. For ticket/further information see today's Bermuda Calendar.