Copenhagen, home of the world-renowned Royal Danish Ballet, has long been a global ballet capital. This fall the city will host two prominent international ballet companies for limited-engagement performances.



• Sept. 5-10, Russia’s incomparable Bolshoi Ballet will perform Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” and Shostakovich’s “The Bright Stream” at Copenhagen’s new opera house, Operaen, under the artistic direction of Alexei Ratmansky.
• Sept. 19-24, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater takes the stage at the newly renovated Tivoli Concert Hall. (Between acts, visit the concert hall’s new Aquarium Foyer, where more than 1,600 tropical fish – and sharks! – swim in Europe’s longest saltwater aquarium tank.)

The Royal Danish Ballet 2006-2007 season begins Sept. 1 with “Trio Extravaganza,” three modern highlights choreographed by Finland’s Jorma Uotinen, France’s Angeline Preljocaj and China’s Yuan Yuan Wang. Other productions in the repertoire include premieres of “Schumann’s 2nd Symphony Etudes,” “Dance Mozart!,” Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du Printemps” and the modern “American Mixture” and “Ailey & Zuska,” plus revivals of “Requiem,” choreographed by Tim Rushton and Bournonville’s “La Sylphide” and “Napoli” among others.