The Ballet Icons Gala, by its very nature, is always going to be a mixed selection of delights and less engaging work; dancers fly in from all over the globe, often on the morning of the performance, and partners have little chance to rehearse together. In the circumstances it is important not to demand flawlessness, although there was plenty to impress at the 18th iteration of Olga Balakleets’ impressive achievement at the London Coliseum.
It was a pleasure to see visitors from American Ballet Theatre, Herman Cornejo and Skylar Brandt, here in London. They danced together the Black Swan pas de deux, Cornejo’s much-loved artistry and virtuosity undimmed by time. Brandt had a mishap in the fouettés, uncharacteristic of her as she is a superb turner and I have been fortunate to see her on several occasions dancing stylishly in New York. Cornejo also danced with Francesca Hayward in a pas de deux from Christopher Wheeldon’s Like Water for Chocolate, a lovely account.
Any chance to see choreography by Hans van Manen in London is always welcome; his Two Pieces for HET was beautifully danced by Riho Sakamoto, a principal at Dutch National Ballet, and Constantine Allen, a frequent guest there. Another Amsterdam Principal, Georgian Georgi Potskhishvili, closed the show in the Don Quixote pas de deux with Natalia Osipova; he is a heroic virtuoso dancer in the grand Soviet tradition, and watching him brought back many happy memories of tours by the Bolshoi and Kirov companies to London in the “old days”. Sadly, Osipova's dancing in no way reflected the glory of previous performances; she did not appear to be in peak fitness, and her characteristic "attack" looked brash without the finesse with which she was able to burnish it in the past. Olga Smirnova also travelled from Amsterdam, and what a delight it was to see her beautiful work with the sublime Vadim Muntagirov in the Diamonds pas de deux. Balanchine’s gorgeous choreography gleamed in the hands (legs?) of these two consummate artists.
The highly talented duo Travis Clausen-Knight and James Pett danced their Mercy Duet (from IMAGO). Inventive choreography melded with intriguing music (by Sean Pett) to showcase the artistry of these two excellent dancer-choreographers. I wished that the spectacular Osiel Gouneo and his partner Camila Bocca from Teatro Colon had chosen something other than a pas de deux from The Taming of the Shrew; this is a marvellous ballet by John Cranko but the pas de deux does not really work as a stand-alone piece on a bare stage. Gouneo was funny but this is usually a laugh-out-loud duet: not this time. Sangeun Lee and Gareth Haw of English National Ballet gave a technically excellent account of the main pas de deux from William Forsythe’s In the Middle Somewhat Elevated, but couldn’t quite create the fierce intensity that lifts this work onto a higher plane.
Youngsters Antonio Casalinho and Margarita Fernandes came from Bavaria to dance (brilliantly) the Esmeralda pas de deux; the attention to detail and maturity of their work belies their tender years. Casalinho is already well advanced on his path to global stardom; his technique is superb but his artistry is special too. Fernandes is formidably strong and also shows a mature approach to precision and detail. Both were trained at the extraordinary Annarella Sanchez International Conservatory in Portugal. Evelina Godunova, First Soloist at Polish National Ballet, and Motomi Kiyota from Hungarian National Ballet danced a Corsaire pas de deux full of surprises. The opening adagio was a little subdued, but Kiyota brought the fireworks in his solo, and both fizzed through the coda. Godunova is charming, with beautiful, well-worked feet.
The Royal Ballet was impressively represented. Yasmine Naghdi and Reece Clarke shone in Qualia by Wayne McGregor; both have grown in confidence and versatility in recent seasons and they are well-matched. I loved Melissa Hamilton and Roberto Bolle in Mauro Bigonzetti’s Caravaggio duet; when Bigonzetti is good he is so very, very good, and his choreography suited Hamilton perfectly. Her gleaming lines and lithe movement were enhanced by Bolle’s superbly attentive partnering and his own lithe muscularity.
The highlight of the evening was the immaculate, pure classical work of Vadim Muntagirov and Fumi Kaneko in Grand Pas Classique. I’m running out of superlatives to describe this partnership, so perfect is their combined artistry and the excellence of their technique, used in true service to the art form itself. Reader, I was almost in tears. How lucky we are to have them at The Royal Ballet.
