Each year, the Ballet Icons Gala brings together elite dancers from across the world for a single, breath-taking night in London. Now in its 20th year, The Indiependent talked to founder Olga Balakleets about the gala’s origins, the challenges of coordinating such an event, and what she’s most looking forward to seeing this year.
How did you get interested in ballet, and what sparked the idea for this gala?
Many people think that I must be a dancer, and I’m not at all. Like lots of little girls, I did ballet for a couple of months as a child and that was it. I’m a musician, taking serious piano lessons and performing from a very young age—that overtook ballet. I always preferred opera!
Later on, I was still performing but I also got involved with a variety of cultural projects as a producer. Still, it was never ballet. And then it was suggested that I organise a dance event, and I said to myself, why not?
The first event was a big gala at the Royal Albert Hall, and then a few years later we held the first event in what would become the Ballet Icons Gala, at the Royal Opera House. It was a dedication to the legendary ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, a celebration of her 80th birthday. That became the foundation of the project, and now we’ve been going for 20 years.
Wow, starting at big venues right off the bat! On the technical side, how do you set these events up? How do you source the dancers?
It happens in different ways. Of course now we have our big family of very well established dancers who have been with us for many years, and we love to extend repeated invitations. They come year after year, and we want to be loyal to them because we love what they do and they love being part of the project.
But every year we also open the stage to dancers who have not performed for us before, who may not even be known in London. Discovering young talents is also one of our missions. Sometimes dancers come to us and ask to be a part of it, there’s also a lot of research, and we get recommendations.
There’s a particular process of selection when we’re putting together each year’s programme. You need to have a balance. Our galas are very, very long, but we have limits. It has to finish at some point! Because of that, unfortunately not all dancers can be accommodated. But we always hope to make arrangements for them in the next season.
Looking back at the 20 years that you’ve been running this gala, what challenges have you faced?
We often have to deal with last minute adjustments and replacements.
There have been shockingly sad moments around injuries, both before the gala, when expected dancers can no longer perform, and even during performances. Those are horrible, but it’s also such a joy when those dancers can return a few years later.
At other times, we’ve had situations with lost luggage. The dancers are coming from their own companies, often they’re principals, so they usually come the day before, perform, and go back as soon as they can. There’s not much time to find a solution if their costumes get lost.
Of course, delivering cultural projects with such an intense, demanding programme is a very difficult exercise, financially and commercially. Sponsorship can be extremely difficult to obtain, even for large companies. Ballet Icons is well-recognised, but it’s an independent project. You can imagine how hard it is, year after year, to take the risk as a producer. A major part of planning the gala each year is working out how to finance it.
Working with dancers from all over the world gives you an interesting perspective on the ballet world. What trends are you noticing in the current landscape?
Contemporary repertoire is increasingly important at every company. For a number of years, the majority of repertoire was classical. That part is still there, of course, but contemporary work is coming to the fore. It’s free, without borders.
Choreography is becoming part of a bigger synthesis. Artwork, projections, lighting designs and music, all these elements are possibly more important in these new works than they are in classical pieces. It’s the dance language of today.
How do you reflect that shift in the gala?
We include work from well-established choreographers but also give dancers who have started choreographing themselves the change to present their work.
I think this is quite a nice thing to do, because even if you’re a well-established dancer, you won’t necessarily be given the opportunity to have your work staged and seen. On a number of occasions, I have actually been asked by dancers if they could present their choreography. I happily said yes!
We also feature UK and world premieres of new work. For the 20th anniversary, we have two absolutely new works which have been created specially for the occasion. They will be presented during the gala in February.
What are you most looking forward to during the gala?
I very much love and appreciate every number in every gala we’ve held. There’s not a single number which I don’t feel passionate about. They’re all really special.
Seeing new work, especially if it’s been created especially for the occasion, is very exciting. I also love seeing performances by younger talents, and knowing that maybe this moment, this gala, is where they will be seen and discovered in a big way. Knowing that it could help their careers is fantastic.
The final call, when all the dancers—so many of them!—come for a final bow, and seeing that another gala milestone has been achieved is the happiest and proudest moment for me.
Words by Lucy Carter
The Ballet Icons Gala 20th Anniversary is held at the London Coliseum on 15 February 2026. Tickets available here.
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