# The most famous ballets of all time

The ballets that companies stage year after year and every guide recommends, from Swan Lake to The Rite of Spring.

- 63 votes · 18 items
- May 29, 2024 · encore_salty
- https://even.best/en/l/3042/the-most-famous-ballets-of-all-time

## Top 18

1. **The Nutcracker** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — Tchaikovsky, 1892. The Christmas classic by Petipa and Ivanov.
2. **The Sleeping Beauty** (5 · ▲5 ▼0) — Tchaikovsky, 1890. Petipa's grandest classical showpiece.
3. **Swan Lake** (4 · ▲5 ▼1) — Tchaikovsky, 1877. Odette, the princess turned into a swan.
4. **Giselle** (4 · ▲5 ▼1) — Adolphe Adam, 1841. The great Romantic ballet of ghosts and betrayal.
5. **Romeo and Juliet** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Prokofiev, 1938. The "Dance of the Knights" and the tragic lovers.
6. **La Bayadère** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Minkus, 1877. The Kingdom of the Shades and its row of dancers.
7. **La Sylphide** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — 1832. One of the first Romantic ballets, danced on pointe.
8. **Coppélia** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — Léo Delibes, 1870. A toymaker and a mechanical doll.
9. **Le Corsaire** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — 1856. Pirates and a famous pas de deux.
10. **Spartacus** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Aram Khachaturian, 1956. The slave revolt as a Soviet spectacle.
11. **Jewels** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Balanchine, 1967. Emeralds, rubies and diamonds; the first full-length plotless ballet.
12. **Boléro** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Ravel, 1928. A single theme that keeps on growing.
13. **The Firebird** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Stravinsky, 1910. The Ballets Russes hit that made him famous.
14. **Petrushka** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Stravinsky, 1911. A puppet with a soul at a Russian fair.
15. **Cinderella** (0 · ▲2 ▼2) — Prokofiev, 1945. The fairy tale with the midnight clock.
16. **A Midsummer Night's Dream** (0 · ▲2 ▼2) — Balanchine, 1962. Shakespeare to Mendelssohn's music.
17. **Don Quixote** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Ludwig Minkus, 1869. Kitri and Basilio steal the show from the knight.
18. **The Rite of Spring** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Stravinsky, 1913. Its Paris premiere nearly caused a riot.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.