The Royal Ballet’s Ashton Celebrated programme, and the welcome visit to the Linbury by Sarasota Ballet, are part of Ashton Worldwide, The Frederick Ashton Foundation’s four-year festival celebrating the Royal Ballet Founding Choreographer’s work and legacy. The programming of Les Rendezvous (1933), The Dream (1964) and Rhapsody (1980) gives an effective overview of Ashton’s great choreographic skill; the three ballets each elucidate, in different ways, his consistent genius with steps, pas de deux and stage patterns, and his refined taste when expressing human emotion.
Much of Ashton’s choreography is fiendishly difficult to dance; he never compromised on tempi, crafting brilliant sequences of fast footwork requiring mental as well as physical agility. Today’s dancers are often thought of as technically superior, and in many ways, of course, they are: training has moved on, alongside support methods for developing body control and muscle tone, and modern choreographers demand greater flexibility. Audience expectations have changed too. Thus it is always interesting to watch earlier works by Ashton or Balanchine and remember how astoundingly proficient dancers of earlier times were technically.
The early Les Rendezvous is tremendously complex for all concerned, requiring great attention to detail in the footwork but also an understanding of Ashton’s Cecchetti-influenced upper body work. Staged here by Vanessa Palmer, a dancer remembered with admiration for precisely this understanding, attention had clearly been paid to this aspect in rehearsal, and the lines and patterns were also beautifully rehearsed.
Jasper Conran has designed a new set and costumes. The set, a backdrop of a sylvan English scene at twilight, is a lovely setting for the gathering of friends, framed by ornate gates facilitating the comings and goings of the dancers. The costumes are attractive (frock coats for the men, long tutus for the women) but I was disappointed with some of the colours, grey for the six corps couples is a little dreary, contrasting somewhat oddly with the bright mustard dresses of the female pas de quatre, but the principal couple in creamy white look marvellous, as does the pas de trois with the men in black velvet coats and the woman in lilac.
Marianela Nuñez danced, as always, with pin-point accuracy and control, and brought Ashtonian lusciousness to the head, neck and shoulders, adding subtle flirtatiousness to the character and interacting charmingly with the other dancers and with her partner, Reece Clarke (excellent). If you are looking for épaulement, look no further than Isabella Gasparini, whose great strength it is. She brought serenity to the pas de trois, ably accompanied by Leo Dixon and Harrison Lee, attacking the speedy, challenging work with alacrity.
This year makes the 60th anniversary of The Dream, one of the most perfectly crafted of all ballets. From the moment the curtain rises on the moonlit forest glade, we are transported to a mysterious other-world, where the humans are gauche interlopers, prime targets for fairy mischief-making. I am sure that the original Titania and Oberon, Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell, were proud to see their roles being nurtured and danced so brilliantly and stylishly by Francesca Hayward and Marcelino Sambé. Sibley and Dowell graced us with their presence on stage at the end of the ballet, taking a curtain call and cheered to the rafters by the audience and cast.
In other roles, there were laugh-out-loud interpretations by Romany Pajdak and Nicol Edmonds as Hermia and Lysander, and Olivia Cowley and Leo Dixon as Helena and Demetrius, all excellent, and Joshua Junker made an appealing Bottom, dancing on pointe as if to the manner born. Daichi Ikarashi made an impressive debut as Puck; I doubt that there exists a technical challenge to defeat his virtuosity, but he also has acting chops and gave a well-rounded account of the role.
More debuts in Rhapsody, with its crystalline speed and lung-busting sequences of jumps. Anna Rose O’Sullivan seems born to dance the ballerina role, and fulfilled or excelled expectations with her beautifully worked feet and lovely presentation quality. Taisuke Nakao, in the role made for Baryshnikov (and therein, perhaps, lies the rub) has a very secure technique, and served the choreography admirably, but this is a role that contrasts virtuosity with relaxed playfulness, and this element was underplayed in Nakao’s interpretation. With more confidence he may develop his own brand of charm and bring stronger dynamics to this fine dancing to reflect the light and shade of the music. The six supporting men were a diverse group of very good dancers but will settle more cohesively with further performances.
Plaudits as always to the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (I particularly liked their account of the Auber score for Les Rendezvous), and to Robert Clark for his playing of the Rachmaninov, and the London Oratory Junior Choir for their lovely contribution in The Dream.
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