Royal Ballet (HD broadcast), 16/11/2022
A Diamond Celebration
The Royal Ballet
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Koen Kessels
Friends' associations are a valuable resource to many an arts organisation, particularly in terms of fundraising, and are normally appreciated for it, but not often in such style as this. The Royal Ballet have mounted this Diamond Celebration to mark the creation 60 years ago of the Friends of the Royal Opera House, and while galas (whether balletic or operatic) tend to be well-known snippets of popular works performed by exceptionally starry, international casts, this one was a little different. Since the Friends provide a good deal of support for new works, company director Kevin O'Hare chose to feature no less than four world premieres in tonight's programme.
The evening fell into three sections. First came the work of the company choreographers - Ashton and Macmillan, naturally, but also Wayne McGregor, Resident Choreographer of the Royal Ballet, and Christopher Wheeldon, the Artistic Associate. Then came the new pieces, and finally, Balanchine's Diamonds, from his ballet "Jewels", which assembled the bulk of the company, where the previous pieces had been duets or for small ensembles. It was a well-chosen programme, nicely showcasing the company past and present, and many of its principal dancers.
We began with the Overture and Act 1 pas-de-deux from La fille mal gardée, Ashton's evergreen pastoral comedy, with Anna Rose O'Sullivan as Lise, and Alexander Campbell - who fits the boy-next-door image to perfection - as Colas, both light and fresh as air. Akane Takada and Calvin Richardson were the lovers in the bedroom pas-de-deux from Macmillan's Manon, nicely romantic, but not wholly compelling. The McGregor work which followed was an extract from Qualia, which was his first major main-stage creation for the company back in 2003, a sinewy, sensuous pas-de-deux, full of long-limbed extensions, and very well executed. Finally in this first half came Christopher Wheeldon's For Four, not a new piece, but a new addition to the company's repertory, set for four male dancers to the Theme and Variations from Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" quartet. This was a rather spectacular showpiece, with the four dancers meshing well when working together, but very clearly delineated from each other in their solos. In particular, Marcelino Sambé was superbly energetic and Vadim Muntagirov all elegant, fluid lines.
Just as many larger companies run Emerging Artists programmes, the Royal Ballet has now added an Emerging Choreographer category, and Joseph Toonga is the first holder of the title. See Us!! is a piece for ten dancers, to music by Michael "Mikey J" Asante. I had half-expected something much more hip-hop based musically, at least, but it was actually quite symphonic, while the choreography was an interesting blend of styles, not as aerial as ballet, but with a powerful ebb and flow of movement. Dispatch Duet was choreographed by Pam Tanowski, to music by Ted Hearne. Again, I had expected something much more in the line of contemporary dance, but it was, in some senses, a fairly classic pas-de-deux, a little quirky, and with Tanowitz's penchant for arms in fourth position (more or less) quite visible.
Benoit Swan Pouffer is the current Artistic Director of Rambert, but he has also choreographed for Broadway shows, or for reviews at the Lido in Paris. His contribution was another pas-de-deux, this one for two of the headliners, Natalia Osipova and Steven McRae, which was simply called concerto pour deux (sic). This was an eloquent piece, well suited to the dancers and beautifully rendered, a painful duet which suggested to me a couple who knows their time is nearly over, yet cannot envisage separation, despite being aware that hanging on is only going to cause more pain. My biggest issue with this is that Pouffer chose Saint-Preux's "Concerto pour une voix" as his soundtrack, in, if I'm not mistaken, the original version (or if it wasn't, it was an extremely good imitation!), and it's terribly dated now.
Finally, in this part, a piece created as a deliberate pendant to For Four, by Valentino Zucchetti, who is still currently a First Soloist dancer with the company, as well as choreographer. His Prima is a more flashy piece than the Wheeldon, and I think it was a design mistake to give the four dancers different costumes, particularly with one being long and the other three short. It was a distraction, and for a piece that was trying to give each dancer equal value, visually it created inequalities, all different styles and colours, with the long dress in particular seeming to set Fumi Kaneko up as first among equals. The idea was perhaps to reinforce the individuality of each dancer, but it took it too far. The virtuosity of the dance was well matched by the music, part of Saint-Saëns's 3rd Violin Concerto (with orchestra leader Vasko Vasilev making dazzlingly light work of the solo part), and Yasmine Naghdi also stood out in her contribution to this light-hearted sparkler.
Finally, the whole company turned out for Diamonds, one of Balanchine's most perfect ballets, a magnificent tribute to the Imperial Russian Ballet style, set to Tchaikovsky's 3rd Symphony, in which Koen Kessels and the orchestra also gave of their very best. Balanchine's patterning is unforgiving, deviations from the line tend to be extremely visible, but this was excellently delivered by the company, especially in the grandiose Polonaise. The soloists here were Marianela Nuñez and Reece Clarke. Clarke is a new promotion this season, and I've not seen him before that I can recall (though he's certainly not new to the company). He was a very pleasant discovery, a tall, strong dancer, handsome and stylish, who made the lifts look effortless and showed good elevation in his solos, while Nuñez was ravishing, queenly in the pas-de-deux, sparkling in the Scherzo and celebratory in the Polonaise. This has always been her greatest advantage for me, that she seems to radiate a real sense of joy in her art, and so it was here too, a genuinely brilliant conclusion to the evening.
[Next : 17th November]