Montagues and Capulets also known as Dance of the Knights is a score composed by Sergei Prokofiev. It is from Act I, Scene 2 of the ballet Romeo and Juliet.

A dark and atmospheric piece, it has become a de facto signature tune for the Soviet era, and is used as the soundtrack for numerous dramas, documentaries and adverts that have Soviet subject matter.

• It was used as the background music in a popular 1990s French commercial for Chanel's Egoiste fragrance, and it was the competition music for the Canadian television mockumentary Kenny vs. Spenny.
• The piece has also been used as the theme for the English football club Sunderland who play at the Stadium of Light in order to evoke a stirring mood before kick-off and to trouble the nerves of visiting opponents. Since and Juliet rise sharply in the North-East of England toward the end of the 1990s.^{[citation needed]}
• Furthermore, this composition is used as title music for the movie Caligula.
• The German technical death metal band Necrophagist uses a portion of this piece at the end of their song "Only Ash Remains". It is also used in the song "Lords of Bedlam" by the Austrian symphonic death metal band Hollenthon. The Smiths would also famously come on stage to the piece.
• In the 1980s, the score was used as theme music for the BBC children's television series God's Wonderful Railway, set in the opening credits to marching, heavy steam locomotives.
• In the Commodore 64 computer game Sanxion this piece is played during the game menu.
• In the Amiga 500 version of computer game Horror Zombies from the Crypt this piece is played during the game introduction.
• This piece can also be heard playing during the ballet theatre sequences of the 1994 Atom Egoyan film Exotica.
• Blood Axis uses this piece in the song "Reign I Forever" off The Gospel of Inhumanity album.
• A sped-up version of the score is used as the main theme and the opening music for Sir Alan Sugar's BBC series The Apprentice since 2005.
• Cassetteboy sampled clips of Sir Alan Sugar from The Apprentice saying "bloody" to the tune of this score.
• English rock band Muse opened their shows at Wembley Stadium with the score on 16 and 17 June 2007. This version appears as the intro to their live album, HAARP.
• MC Life of Phi Life Cypher has sampled this song in a track "Time Crisis" on his 2003 album Everyday Life.
• In 2009, the rock band Deep Purple is using a rendition of this score as the introductory tune to their live concerts.
• Symphonic metal band Epica performed an adaptation of the piece with an orchestra at the Miskolc Opera Festival 2009
• The song 'Got One Life' by the drum and bass band, Qemists (feat. Navigator), mixes Montagues and Capulets into the background.
• A version of this song is played through a dog-shaped speaker in a series of 2009 Softbank advertisements featuring Quentin Tarantino.
• This piece was also used in the UK as the title theme on Channel 4's NFL American Football show in the 1980's.
• The piece is used in the video game Sid Meier's Civilization V as Catherine the Great's theme.
• Black metal band Satyricon used this piece in the beginning of their music video for the song "Mother North", from the album Nemesis Divina.

• Listen to the Dance of the Knights