Costumes, shoes and so much more: Britain's Royal Ballet packs for its Asian tour

More than 2,000 costume pieces and 150 staff to travel as global events complicate logistics

Surrounded by rails of costumes and boxes of headpieces at London's Royal Opera House, Adrian Villasenor inspects some of the items to be worn during the Royal Ballet's 2026 tour of Singapore and Tokyo.

“Altogether there might be over 2,000 pieces of costumes," Costume Performance Senior Manager Villasenor said. "It's all (going on) the road.”

From dancers to physiotherapists and the rest of the backstage team, some 150 people will travel from London to Asia for the Jun 26 - Jul 12 tour, which will include performances of the romantic "Giselle" and the comic "La Fille mal gardee".

The Royal Ballet decided in 2023 what to perform. Teams have since been busy with all aspects of the tour, including studying venue space and how that might affect choreography.

World Events Add Complexity

Packing and sending off the costumes are among the final stages of preparation and the task has now been made more complex as war in the Middle East has reshaped global shipping routes and detours around Africa extend voyage times.

“We also have to think about the events that's going on in the world today. So of course, what's going on in Iran, of course what's been going on with Russia... and suddenly today we got told we have to get the boxes, which has the dancers' makeup and some practice clothes, they need to be packed and on a ship this week," Kevin O'Hare, director of the Royal Ballet, said.

"So suddenly you have to do that... and that's more for the dancers to have to get everything together."

While sets and "Giselle" costumes are being shipped, "La Fille mal gardee" outfits will be flown to Tokyo after the production's May 23-Jun 9 run. "Giselle" concluded its London performances on Mar 20.

"We really want people to experience in Tokyo or Singapore what they would experience here in London," O'Hare said.