Strapless

Strapless is a one-act ballet choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon to a commissioned score by Mark-Anthony Turnage, with designs by Bob Crowley. It received its world premiere by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House on 12 February 2016. Inspired by John Singer Sargent's scandalous 1884 painting Portrait of Madame X, the ballet traces the relationship between the American painter and Virginie Amélie Gautreau, the Parisian socialite who became his subject. The work moves from their first encounter in 1881 through the painting's notorious exhibition at the Paris Salon, where the drooping shoulder strap caused an uproar that damaged both their reputations.