The Grand Theatre Wolverhampton and Birmingham Hippodrome welcome top ballet

The Grand Theatre, at Wolverhampton, will host The Russian State Ballet of Siberia, which will stage a series of different shows throughout the week.

Birmingham Hippodrome will also host the latest show from Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB), with a production of Aladdin opening tonight and running until February 23.

The Russian Ballet of Siberia will headline Wolverhampton's Grand Theatre with a series of productions.

It will perform The Nutcracker on Sunday (February 17) at 4pm, Coppelia on Monday (February 18) at 7.30pm and Swan Lake on Tuesday (February 19) at 2.30pm and again at 7.30pm.The Nutcracker features Tchaikovsky's matchless score for this most famous of fantasy ballets.

Coppelia is a light-hearted tale of mistaken identity, confused lovers and an eccentric toymaker brought to life by sparkling choreography and the animated score of Delibes.

While Swan Lake features a compelling tale of tragic romance that is brought to life by Tchaikovsky's haunting and unforgettable score.

Meanwhile The BRB's production is set to provide audiences with a new tale of love, trickery and triumph from BRB director David Bintley.

BRB spokesman Simon Harper said audiences were in for a treat: "A run-in with Palace guards leads young tearaway Aladdin into a whirlwind of adventure and romance, involving unbelievable riches, love at first sight, treachery, and of course a magic lamp, and all that it contains.

"Duped into helping an evil Maghrib, Aladdin finds himself trapped in a cave for three days and nights, with no light and nothing to eat. But it is only when he attempts to light the old lamp he's found, that his real adventure begins"

Aladdin was created for the National Ballet of Japan in 2008 and boasts choreography by the creator of Birmingham Royal Ballet's brilliant Cinderella and music by Carl Davis, composer of the Company's Cyrano and numerous well-known television scores including Pride and Prejudice, Cranford, The World at War and Up Pompeii.

David Bintley has established himself as one of the world's leading choreographers. He has worked around the world and established his links with BRB in 1995.

Since his appointment, he has shaped a company where the dancers share his philosophy of continuing to preserve the classical repertory while introducing new work made in the same idiom.

He has been a careful curator of the classics – preserving some in Peter Wright's sensitive revivals, but also choreographing his own productions, such as Sylvia (2009) and Cinderella (2010).

Just as noticeably, he has also championed the works of de Valois, Ashton and MacMillan which provide the basis of the modern English repertory, giving them a safe and loving home.

By Andy Richardson