Home to prestigious schools like Pevnev Ballet Academy and Central School of Classical Ballet, Perth has long been a fan of ballet. Now, the city is abuzz with excitement as ‘Ballet of Lights Perth’ adds a dazzling new dimension to the ballet scene with the help of timeless storytelling, talented ballerinas and outfits adorned with fibre-optic lights.
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What is Ballet of Lights?
Ballet of Lights is a unique blend of the old and the new. It celebrates the globally recognised art form, by bringing a classic to ballet enthusiasts as well as new audiences. The show’s innovative approach adds a layer of magic, by incorporating gleaming optical fibres into the dancer’s costumes. This way, every glide and every spin is heightened, making it more accessible to everyone. This season, the luminous ballet series is reimagining the timeless tales of Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan and Cinderella in Perth.
Ballet of Lights in Perth: Which story is being performed now?
Ballet of Lights is a 60-minute show suitable for audiences aged 5 and above. New ballets are always on the horizon, but for now, these are the tales you can expect to shine in Perth this season.
Sleeping Beauty
Originating from the fairy tales of Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, Sleeping Beauty endures as a story of enchantment, resilience, and the timeless victory of love and light over darkness. The Ballet of Lights version deepens this fairytale’s sense of renewal. When the kingdom succumbs to its enchanted slumber, a symphony of gentle hues ripples across the stage — each dancer’s fibre‑optic costume mirroring the passage from night to dawn, despair to hope.
Cinderella
Cinderella is a story that has captivated audiences for centuries, its earliest recorded version dating back to Charles Perrault’s 1697 “Cendrillon.” It is a tale of kindness rewarded and hardship transformed, tracing a young woman’s rise from ashes to grandeur. The Ballet of Lights rendition amplifies this transformation with radiant costuming — fibre‑optic threads tracing her metamorphosis at the stroke of midnight, every flicker echoing her hope and grace. The pre-recorded music, blending classical selections from Tchaikovsky, Handel and Rossini, breathes new life into the story, reflecting both the tenderness and triumph of Cinderella’s journey.
Peter Pan
J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan first took flight in 1904, whisking audiences to the wonderland of Neverland — a place of pirates, fairies and eternal youth. In Ballet of Lights, this spirit of flight and imagination is rendered through vibrant choreography and pulsing threads of light that evoke the shimmer of stars and the flutter of fairy dust. The musical arrangement draws from Mendelssohn, Brahms and Smetana, marrying classical richness with modern visual storytelling — the perfect fusion to capture the timeless magic of never growing up.
Ballet of Lights in Perth offers a luminous intersection of story, dance, and innovation — a chance to see familiar tales reborn through the language of light. Whether revisiting childhood favourites or discovering them anew, audiences are invited to step into an hour of timeless wonder, where classic ballet gleams brighter than ever.