Royal Ballet (live streaming), 09/10/2020

 The Royal Ballet Back on Stage

The Royal Ballet

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Jonathan Lo

Of all the performing arts, I think it's fair to say that the one hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic has been dance, because contact between the performers is so integral to its nature.  It is a profound testament to the will and determination, the sheer dedication of these artists that after seven months of near total inactivity, in an occupation that demands constant physical training in order to maintain standards, that the Royal Ballet has been able to make a return to the stage in such brilliant, breathtaking form, to deliver a 3-hour gala as polished and as exciting as any I've ever seen from them.

Indeed, the energy and zest of the dancers, their sheer joy in being back on the Royal Opera House stage, in their home, poured out through the computer screen - I can only imagine what it must have felt like in the house - amplified by the presence of an invited and enthusiastic audience of students and NHS nurses. One of the most disconcerting things about the live performances that are beginning to appear online is the frequent absence of a live audience in front of the performers.  Of course musicians are used to performing without an audience, for recordings or studio broadcasts, but with these streamed concerts, to know there's an audience there, yet not to feel their presence, is both bizarre and awkward.  Having an audience present almost certainly fuelled the company's excitement.

It was a weighty programme, well balanced between dark and light.  Eight pas de deux, three larger group numbers, a solo, a trio and a sextet, with only two items choreographed in the 19th Century out of the lot, plus a brief introduction for the orchestra alone, the Sleeping Beauty prelude, not entirely felicitous, since it is meant to segue straight into the Prologue, and therefore doesn't actually have a proper end, but at least it showed from the outset that the orchestra was also on sparkling form.  

The evening got off to a powerful start with an extract from Hofesh Schechter's Untouchable, created for the company in 2015, 20 members of the company in neat, grim ranks, manoeuvring precisely through a dusty, evocative gloom, individuals expelled from the ranks, swirling around to resume their places.  I've not seen the whole piece, and what I've heard suggests that this opening is perhaps the best of it, but it was certainly very striking.  Akane Takada and Federico Bonelli followed this up with a noble, if fairly low-key White Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake, then came a new piece from Cathy Marston, In Our Wishes, passionately delivered by Fumi Kaneko and Reece Clarke to piano music by Rachmaninoff.  This was a lovely piece, strongly delivered, as was Balanchine's sublime homage to Petipa, the Diamonds pas de deux from Jewels, with Sarah Lamb and Ryoichi Hirano, proud and elegant.  

Fumi Kaneko and Reece Clarke
In Our Wishes (2020,screenshot)

Right at the end of his life, Kenneth Macmillan was invited to choreograph the National Theatre's revival of Carousel.  He never lived to see the finished product, and this was the first time I've ever seen the ballet sequence in his choreography.  Mayara Magri and Matthew Ball were outstanding as Louise and the Carnival Boy, vital and free-flowing, with the orchestra seeming to particularly enjoy Rodgers' music.  The first part of the evening ended with the exuberant, joyful finale of Christopher Wheeldon's Within the Golden Hour.

Mayara Magri and Matthew Ball
Carousel (2020, screenshot)

If Macmillan is one of the great supporting pillars of the Royal Ballet, Ashton is the other, and the second part began with highlights from two of his best known ballets, The Dream and La Fille Mal Gardée.  I have to admit I've never been terribly fond of The Dream, I find it fussy and twee.  The Scherzo sort of passed me by, though Laura Morera, with her beautifully soft hands, was a charming Titania in the Nocturne.  Fille also sometimes can irritate me, but only if the performers' hearts aren't in it, and that certainly wasn't the case with Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé, who were as vivacious and light-footed as could be wished for, utterly delightful.

The programme turned in a more somber direction once again, first with the Balcony Scene (without balcony) from Macmillan's Romeo and Juliet.  Although Francesca Hayward and Cesar Corrales were an attractive pair, the pas de deux didn't quite soar, not the way Magri and Ball managed with Carousel.  Natalia Osipova was as compelling as ever in a solo from Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's Medusa, and its tormented mood continued in an extract from the first part of Wayne McGregor's Woolf Works, which gave us perhaps a last chance to see Edward Watson live on stage.  He had formally announced his retirement back in January, but he looks in as strong and compelling form as ever, with that extraordinary, flexible line of his limbs that seem to bend in uncanny ways, something of which McGregor makes good use.  To conclude this second part, a return to the classics with the Wedding pas de deux from Petipa's Don Quixote, gloriously rendered by Marianela Nuñez and Vadim Muntagirov.  Nuñez's joie de vivre has always been a feature of her dancing, but it was particularly strong here, where her joy at being back on stage was almost tangible, and thoroughly matched by her partner.  

The evening ended with a complete performance of Macmillan's witty and zany Elite Syncopations.  In order to give a chance for every dancer in the company (or at least, every one who had not already had a solo role earlier) to get on stage, the ballet was tweaked a little to expand the numbers, which meant that some parts were doubled, and several costumes duplicated.  It certainly made for a particularly colourful showing.  I have to say this was the first time in my experience that the Alaskan Rag didn't seem to raise any laughs, but maybe the microphones, which would have been turned off in the auditorium because the orchestra was now on-stage, might not have picked them up.  I hope so, at least, because I saw no reason why Melissa Hamilton and Paul Kay shouldn't have got the laughs they certainly played for.  Claire Calvert was a charmingly pert Calliope Rag Girl, while Yasmine Naghdi was both cool and come-hither as the Stop-Time Rag Girl.  The whole company, and the on-stage band performed with a breezy insouciance and a light touch that concluded proceedings with a delicious fizz.

The Royal Ballet Company in "Cataract Rag"
Elite Syncopations (2020, screenshot)

There were two major names missing tonight from the roster of dancers that I know of.  When Lauren Cuthbertson came on stage for a couple of minutes' conversation with the evening's presenter, her reasons were obvious; she's expecting a child in the near future.  Steven McRae's absence was regrettable however, his fire and vitality would have been a welcome addition to an already memorable evening.  This was, nevertheless, a truly uplifting experience, and a truly impressive tribute to the drive and passion of this company and these dancers.

[Next : 15th October]