Don't know if anyone is interested in ballet but I found this when looking for activities for my work to post about. It's at the Royal Opera House streaming from the 29th of May until the 11th June. A new ballet by Cathy Marston telling the true story of Jacqueline du Pré, the prodigiously gifted post-war cellist whose career and life were cruelly cut short by multiple sclerosis. The tragic-romantic tale of love and loss centred around a young woman is classic classical ballet LONDON — The stirring sounds of Elgar’s Cello Concerto rise from the orchestra pit in an opening scene of a production by the Royal Ballet, “The Cellist.” The ballerina in the title role settles into position with her instrument: a male dancer, dressed in brown tones. She grips his upstretched arm as if it were the neck of a cello and makes sweeping gestures across his back, as if moving a bow. This rapturous musical union is suddenly interrupted, as the cellist collapses onstage, then rubs her hands, trying to chase away the numbness. Soon, her hands begin to quiver intermittently, as do her legs. Playing the instrument becomes impossible. Her human cello tries to revive her musical powers, as does her husband, who has been conducting from a nearby podium. They wrap themselves around her in a desperate embrace. But her musical career is permanently over. Choreographed by Cathy Marston for the Royal Ballet, “The Cellist” tells the story of two highly gifted musicians: the cellist Jacqueline du Pré, considered one of the instrument’s finest musicians, and her husband, the star conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim. The two met in London in 1966 and married the next year, performing and recording together nonstop and forming one of the most memorable couples in classical music. But multiple sclerosis cut short Ms. du Pré’s career. At a 1973 concert at Lincoln Center in New York, she went onstage “not knowing what G was, where C was, and not knowing what sounds were going to come out, and how I’d find them,” she later recalled. It was to be her last performance. She died 14 years later, at age 42. https://www.youtube.com/royaloperahouse