Mathieu Buscatto

Northern Ballet transforms Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ scandalous 18th-century novel into a sensually charged ballet where aristocrats weaponize love with devastating effect. David Nixon’s adaptation follows two nobles who manipulate desire for sport, targeting the virtuous Madame de Tourvel and the naïve Cécile Volanges. Joseph Taylor’s calculating Vicomte de Valmont exerts control through lifts that shift from brutal to tender, while Matthew Koon’s Chevalier Danceny leaps with youthful hope destined to unravel. Vivaldi’s "The Four Seasons," performed live by Northern Ballet Sinfonia, underscores scenes where whispered letters seal fates and reputations collapse. Nixon’s choreography threads psychological warfare into every gesture. What begins as flirtation becomes a brutal reckoning, exposing the human cost of pride, pleasure, and power. This is ballet as emotional bloodsport: exquisite, erotic, and utterly merciless.