Carmen and L'Arlesienne, two classic ballet productions by the famous French ballet choreographer Roland Petit, will be staged by the National Ballet of China at China National Opera House, in Beijing, from March 17 to 19.

Top dancers of the company, including Qiu Yunting and Ma Xiaodong, will perform in the shows.

In 2005, Petit worked with the National Ballet of China for the first time, bringing out Carmen and L'Arlesienne, which started a longtime friendship between the choreographer and the company.

Carmen, which premiered in 1949, was one of Petit's most popular ballets. Based on the 1845 novella by Prosper Merimee with the music from Georges Bizet's 1875 opera of the same name, the ballet piece has become a hugely successful, timeless story.

L'Arlesienne is also based on Bizet's opera with the same title. The ballet premiered 1974, and is a piece about a young man who is torn between two loves, a gentle young woman from the countryside of Provence in the south of France and a seductive woman he once saw in the city of Arles.