The Royal Ballet: A Diamond Celebration is an eclectic scintillation of pre-existing and premiering ballet repertoire.
Anna Rose O’Sullivan and William Bracewell dancing Pam Tanowitz’ Dispatch Duet. Photo by Tristram Kenton for The Guardian.
Last month the Royal Ballet championed their loyal supporters in an evening of pre-existing and premiering choreography. Performed from the Royal Opera House, streamed in cinemas across the country, dancers of the Royal Ballet showcased an array of choreographic work featuring the repertoire of Sir Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan, Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor, Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon, and world premieres by Pam Tanowitz, Valentino Zucchetti, Benoit Swan Pouffer, and Emerging Choreographer Joseph Toonga. The Diamond Celebration marks sixty years of the Royal Ballet’s support-subscription-service, ‘Friends of the Royal Ballet,’ where members are able to access live rehearsals, behind the scenes content, and early access tickets for a generous annual direct debit.
The evening’s performances opened with an excerpt of Sir Frederick Ashton’s La Fille Mal Gardée: sweet, intricate, and sprightly. Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Alexander Campbell flit with serendipity, a beautiful demonstration of Ashton’s style, an inhale of crisp, fresh, spring-morning air. The excerpt still delivers its playful effervescences despite the lack of Osbert Lancaster’s notorious nursery-like set. A fresh palette-cleansing appetiser to prep the tastebuds for the tantalising spread ahead. From light to dark, Akane Takada and Calvin Richardson are incredibly complimentary as they tackle Kenneth Macmillan’s calignious and vivacious Manon Act I 'Bedroom' pas de deux with a tentative verve. The pas de deux feels particularly light, as if aglow around its edges, perhaps due to the absence of emotional turmoil caused by experiencing the traumatic tale in its entirety. The yearning between Takada and Richardson is palpable: rich, lived-in, and toyed.
Melissa Hamilton and Lukas Brend in Wayne McGregor’s Qualia. Photo by Andrej Uspenski.
Wayne McGregor's Qualia is a salacious, sultry surprise. A last minute cast change, Melissa Hamilton and Lukas Brend undulate in a slinky, angled lax. The entangled pair wrap, wind, and weave, as the audience becomes voyeur to their private rendezvous. Driven by the musculature and flexibility of both dancers, their candescent colloquy unravels across the stage with a sumptuous skulk. Moments of stillness, Hamilton in an impressive extension à la seconde, are most impactful. Accompanied by Scanner’s invasive score, Hamilton and Brend reflect and refract the scratched intertwining’s of the manipulative melody and ominous vibrations that make up the warped soundscape.
Wheeldon’s For Four is next in the running order. Schubert’s stunning score is bodied with precision and grandeur by Matthew Ball, James Hay, Vadim Muntagirov, and Marcelino Sambé, each an individual personification of the string quartet’s vibrational excellence; it feels as though the piece has been created on them, each darting with an abundant charisma. Carried by a playful virtuosity, For Four is one of the more captivating pieces of the gala. The dance swells with a quiet confidence and assurance, like observing playtime in the studio, a conversational improvisation. Most joyful is the fun the dancers seem to be having onstage.
Dancers of the Royal Ballet in Joseph Toonga’s See Us!! Photo by Andrej Uspenski.
See us!! is a much needed exclamation mark in the middle of the evening’s proceedings. Necessarily angsty and grounding, it is refreshing to see professional ballet dancers challenged to move in a way that sits far beyond their everyday movement vocabulary. Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante’s soundscape rhythmically rolls with a percussive punctuation that punches unannounced. Joseph Toonga choreographs a well-held tension, leaving many in the audience, myself included, holding their breath. Whilst at times feeling slightly under-rehearsed, not uncommon for a new commission, moving solos from Joseph Sissens and Ashley Dean anchor the piece for its punchy premiere.
If my insomnia grew limbs and learnt how to dance, it would dance the Dispatch Duet, and I mean this with the highest praise possible. Unsurprisingly the only work of the evening by a female choreographer, Pam Tanowitz deconstructs audience expectations and all bravado that fell before.Tanowitz choreographs what reads as an art installation. In its geometric angularity, Dispatch etches an eerie dissonance of unison between Anna Rose O’Sullivan and William Bracewell. Abstract in form and structure, the pair, clad in retro-gymnasium-sheek, dart, duck, and dig their way across the stage, cutting lines as they mark the open space. Ted Hearnes' accompaniment offers the ideal canvas to house such choreographic exploration, abstraction, and vision. My reception of this piece grows fonder the more I ponder Tanowitz’ inimitable approach to contemporary postmodern dance.
Concerto pour deux came and went, leaving little desire for further thought. This should not have been the case: Steven McCrae and Natalia Osipova are a star-studded duo, two of the most renowned principal dancers of our time; Benoit Swan Pouffer’s choreography felt far too grounded for the incomparable elevation and vibrance of McCrae, and too drab and placid for the vivacious, tension-building artistry of Osipova. The costumes, accompaniment, and choreography loosely hung from the dancers in what was, sadly, the weakest performance of the night.
Fumi Kaneko, Yasmin Naghdi, Mayara Magri, and Francesca Hayward in Valentino Zucchetti’s Prima. Photo by Tristram Kenton for The Guardian.
When I heard the comparison of Prima to For Four, ‘a female parallel’, I was nervous for Valentino Zuchetti; I was also unsure of his choreographic style and approach in the studio following an insight into Prima during the livestream rehearsals a week prior. I do enjoy being challenged in my preconceptions. Prima has all the ingredients to be a showstopping piece of contemporary ballet choreography: the music of Camille Saint-Saëns, played live by solo violinist Vasko Vassilev; new, intriguing costumes designed by Roksanda Ilinčić; and originating roles for four of the company’s principal dancers, Francesca Hayward, Fumi Kaneko, Mayara Magri, and Yasmin Naghdi. Prima is musically, technically, and choreographically virtuosic. Each dancer’s artistic style bleeds choreographically, diluting the space with grandeur, at times feeling nonchalant and understated for how remarkably concentrated it is. In a review for The Guardian, Lindsey Winship notes that women of Prima look like they are having considerably less fun than the men of For Four, and I tend to agree. A modest performance from four splendid artists; it rose to the occasion and stood eye to eye with its parallel.
What a joy it is to exist at the same time as Marianela Nuñez. Grace and elegance personified, Nuñez effortlessly embodies the classical style of Diamonds, well-matched by Reece Clark, who moves with such poise and stature. Diamonds was, for me, the ‘classical’ Royal Ballet at its best; I have not seen such well-rehearsed unison from the corps de ballet in some time. Whilst Balanchine’s choreography does at times feel constraining, rigid in form and structure, Diamonds serves as a classical cherry atop an eclectic scintillation of pre-existing and premiering ballet repertoire.
Jodie Nunn
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