In 1979 I choreographed a short gala piece for six dancers to Malcolm Arnold’s witty Four Scottish Dances. An unusual and successful concert item, at only twelve minutes duration, it was unlikely to hold a permanent place in the repertoire, but then a number of Benjamin Britten juvenilia, hitherto unheard, were released in the mid nineteen-eighties.

I found, in Scottish Ballad, a superbly contrasting companion piece. Whereas Four Scottish Dances is an intentional ‘picture postcard’ view of Scotland, with caber tossing, heather and whisky, the more sombre Ballad recalls the bloody history and sacrifice of the Scots in their numerous battles south of the border.

The complete ballet was premiered by Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet in 1985 and is in the repertory of Birmingham Royal Ballet and Star Dancers, Tokyo, whilst the Scottish Dances regularly features, for good or ill, in student performances, and has been danced by every major ballet school in England.

‘This kilted evocation of Scottish history – its romanticism and bloodshed – is one of Bintley’s finest, the choreography beating with the passionate pulse of its Arnold and Britten scores’
THE GUARDIAN

‘A marvellous instance of David Bintley’s particular genius’
THE BIRMINGHAM POST

★★★★
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH