Meg and Jack White have given their blessing to the project

Composer Joby Talbot penned Chroma for the Royal Ballet using his own interpretations of White Stripes songs including their Top 10 hit Blue Orchid.

They are taken from his album of classical "re-imaginings" of the band's songs, called Aluminium, out now.

Talbot told BBC News that the LP had got the thumbs up from the duo.

He said: "I met Jack and he was incredibly nice about it. He said he and Meg both loved it."

Chroma is choreographed by Wayne McGregor as part of a Royal Ballet triple bill which runs until 29 November.

'Not a gimmick'

He insisted the use of White Stripes music was not a gimmick in an attempt to draw in non-ballet fans, but McGregor had simply decided it was the perfect music for his piece.

Talbot continued: "Wayne really has done an incredible job, the dancing is absolutely amazing. It's incredible to see your music interpreted and performed by such talented people."

It is not the first time that The Royal Ballet has dabbled in pop music - the company has previously used the music of The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix in works.

The ballet opens on Friday night at the Royal Opera House

The other two works performed alongside Chroma are The Four Temperaments and DGV, or Danse A Grande Vitesse, the latter of which is scored by celebrated composer Michael Nyman.

Joby Talbot is now one of Britain's most successful composers, after years in The Divine Comedy working on seven of their albums, the last of which was 2004's Absent Friends.

After doing the orchestration for hits such as National Express and Something For The Weekend, Joby now writes all the music for BBC comedy The League Of Gentlemen.