Key Points
- Scottish Ballet offers a groundbreaking double-bill that delves into the concepts of collective strength, group mentality, and collective behavior using both contemporary and classical ballet dance forms.
- The show will present the world premiere of Entress, a piece by choreographer Julia Cheng that marks her debut work for a big classical ballet company.
- Additionally, the evening will be presented a re-staging of Emergence, the piece created by Crystal Pite for the National Ballet of Canada in 2009 and previously staged by Scottish Ballet during the 2016 Edinburgh International Festival.
- Julia Cheng’s Entress uses an ancient Scottish term for the “right to enter,” and her varied experience as a hip-hop and waacking dancer adds an air of confident patience in depicting scenes of groupthink, purging, and metamorphosis.
- Entress was designed by Yann Seabra, whose set featured a scratched black floor rising to half-stage height and a hovering white cloth suspended from the ceiling as an open chrysalis.
- The performer playing the part of Nüwa, the Chinese goddess of the creation of humans, is Rishan Benjamin, who is suspended on an edge of a high stage while detached from the darkly dressed, crouching troupe.
- The nameless character of Kayla-Maree Tarantolo acts out in a compelling manner of a passionate rebel against the troupe.
- Isobel Waller-Bridge composes a broad score for Entress together with the percussionist, Beibei Wang.
- “Emergence” by Crystal Pite employs ideas from swarm intelligence and the behavior of bee colonies, featuring “twitching, skittering, alien and deadly beautiful order.”
Glasgow Glasgow Express September 12, 2026 — It is a significant moment for any choreographer to create work for a large ballet company for the very first time. This overarching thread unites two distinct Scottish Ballet performances: the world premiere of Entress by Julia Cheng and the notable restaging of Crystal Pite’s Emergence, which was originally choreographed for the National Ballet of Canada in 2009 and first performed by Scottish Ballet at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2016.
Coming from a varied dance background that spans hip-hop and waacking, Julia Cheng received Olivier nominations for her choreography in productions like Cabaret and Fiddler on the Roof. In Entress—derived from an old Scottish word meaning “right to enter”—she brings an assured patience to myth-like themes, allowing scenes that explore groupthink, purging, and transformation ample time to develop naturally on stage.
How Does Julia Cheng’s Entress Explore Mythology and Movement?
The visual world of Entress is anchored by Yann Seabra’s smart set design, which comprises a scratched black floor rising halfway up the stage and a floating white sheet suspended from the ceiling to mimic a soft, open chrysalis. Within this environment, Rishan Benjamin portrays Nüwa, the Chinese goddess who created humanity, hovering aloft on a raised platform edge while remaining distant from a darkly clad, crouched ensemble.
Standing alone within the space is the nameless protagonist, brought to life by the compellingly emotive dancer Kayla-Maree Tarantolo. Serving as a pariah figure, she pulses and rebels against her group, who fly past and through her during sequences of escalating physical strain. Julia Cheng focuses less on traditional ballet technique—though it remains evident in nimble partnering and complex hand patterns—and directs her primary attention toward the sensorial force that the dancers’ collective impression makes upon the viewer.
The production is further elevated by a capacious score composed by Isobel Waller-Bridge, which flits between tinkling keys and brooding strings, alongside percussionist Beibei Wang, who introduces vital momentum and palpable sonic texture to the performance. While the specific events of the narrative can occasionally feel hazy, there is a distinct visual simplicity to the overall arc of Entress, resulting in an absorbing vision from the choreographer.
What Makes Crystal Pite’s Emergence a Masterclass in Swarm Intelligence?
Transitioning from the mystical atmosphere of the opening piece, the second half of the programme delivers a rare instance of contemporary dance excitement as dancers creep through a large black eyelet situated at the back of the stage. Crystal Pite’s masterwork demonstrates an unmatched ability to craft physical complexity without ever losing its underlying thematic substance.
In this scuttling, twitching ballet, audiences encounter a mostly segregated hive where female dancers dominate on their pointe shoes, whispering counts as their wooden blocks deliberately pound the dancefloor to add to the cacophony of insect-like sounds found in Owen Belton’s musical score. Meanwhile, the male dancers feature black ink traced down their arms, hunching down before fearlessly sliding across the floor in elastic contortions. The result is a frenzied, alien, and deathly beautiful order whose complex machinations gleefully resist easy interpretation, marking a bold entry from early in Pite’s astounding choreographic career.
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Background of the Development
The staging of this double-bill at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow represents a pivotal convergence of classical ballet institutions and contemporary choreographic innovation. Scottish Ballet has frequently positioned itself at the forefront of commissioning daring works that bridge classical foundations with boundary-pushing physical vocabularies. Crystal Pite’s Emergence originally premiered with the National Ballet of Canada in 2009, winning numerous accolades and redefining how swarm intelligence and natural ecosystem behaviors—specifically modeled on bee colonies—could be translated into classical and contemporary dance idioms. Its integration into Scottish Ballet’s repertoire began during the 2016 Edinburgh International Festival, where it achieved widespread critical acclaim.
Concurrently, the commission of Entress by Julia Cheng marks a strategic evolution for classical ballet companies opening their doors to diverse movement lineages, such as hip-hop, theatre, and waacking. By pairing an established contemporary masterwork like Emergence with a fresh, world-premiere voice like Cheng’s, Scottish Ballet highlights a continuous institutional commitment to expanding the technical boundaries, storytelling capacities, and stylistic range of its dancers.
How This Development Can Affect the Ballet and Contemporary Dance Audience
This high-profile double-bill is poised to significantly shift expectations and engagement patterns among ballet traditionalists, contemporary dance enthusiasts, and newer, younger audiences alike. For the core ballet audience, exposure to Crystal Pite’s insectoid mechanics alongside Julia Cheng’s hip-hop-informed mythos dismantles rigid perceptions of what a classical company can physically and narratively achieve. It encourages patrons to embrace ambiguity, sensory immersion, and thematic abstraction over linear storytelling.
For younger and more diverse demographics—particularly those drawn to theatre, commercial dance, and cross-genre performances—the prominent inclusion of Julia Cheng demonstrates a welcoming permeability between underground and institutional dance spaces. This cultural bridge can cultivate a broader, more inclusive spectator base that values non-traditional movement styles within classical venues. Furthermore, for the dancers themselves, navigating the extreme precision of swarm intelligence alongside deeply emotional character solos builds extraordinary versatility, ultimately influencing the future physical standards, commissioning habits, and programming choices of major dance companies across the United Kingdom and internationally.
