There was a moment of personal disappointment for me when I first saw Kyle Abraham’s The Weathering: only because, having seen several of his pieces in New York and admired his unique style, I hoped to see that style gleaming through the bodies of The Royal Ballet dancers. It doesn’t happen, and I wondered momentarily if the dancers just hadn’t understood the work, but that is so unlikely with dancers of this calibre and demonstrable insight that I have concluded that Abraham deliberately made a traditional classical piece as a tribute to the company and those dancers.
It’s elegant, filled with emotion as Abraham’s work always is, but it would be only enhanced by the lovely shoulder rolls and rippling movement through the arm muscles seen in his previous work, and the initiating of movement from the core that so reflects his emotional intent. Here, the dancers showed impeccable technique, and ports de bras rather than what might one term “choreography through the arms,” all very calm, gentle and serene. There’s a palpable feeling of loss; perhaps the lanterns that come and go throughout represent lost loved ones? The ending, as a male dancer concludes his yearning solo by disappearing out of the lantern-light into the darkness at the back of the stage, is strikingly redolent of this idea.
Among an excellent cast (Melissa Hamilton, Lukas B. Brændsrød, Sae Maeda, Joshua Junker, Liam Boswell, Brayden Gallucci, Daichi Ikarashi, Harrison Lee, Aiden O’Brien, Francisco Serrano, Harry Churches) Boswell shone in the ensemble and Maeda sparkled through her speedy solo with charm and technical aplomb. Hamilton and Junker had understood the assignment, overlaying their work with glimpses of the signature Abraham style. Junker’s solo at the end was revelatory. Onwards and upwards for him, methinks.
I enjoyed Pam Tanowitz’s Dispatch Duet when it was shown as part of The Royal Ballet: A Diamond Celebration; now it forms the closing section of a developed work, Or Forevermore. Danced now, as then, by Anna Rose O’Sullivan and William Bracewell (both on top form and bringing wit and joy to the choreography) it is far better than the expanded sections. These continue the idea of deconstructing dance, but the result gives the cast other than the principals little opportunity to show their skills, and wastes the huge talents with which the Royal Ballet is currently stacked. The set, a series of black scrims and two large spotlights on stands, and the loud, insistent music by Ted Hearne did little to add to the piece’s impact. Tanowitz is clever and her work is often rewarding; here I would rather see the pas de deux as a stand-alone piece. However, we did get the chance to see Caspar Lench executing a stunningly good series of relevés passés sautés with astounding ballon. The audience gave the piece a rapturous reception.
Joseph Toonga’s Dusk is by some distance the best thing he has made during his tenure as Emerging Choreographer. Unattractive costumes could not hide some interesting ideas; I particularly liked an intriguing sternum isolation leitmotif, and the whole was danced with intense commitment by an impressive cast, clearly loving the work.
Crystal Pite’s The Statement is a truly magnificent piece of theatre. Superficially a boardroom drama – a managerial disaster has occurred and a scapegoat must be found – it has much to say about human nature and how profoundly large organisations sometimes fail to address issues of compliance or procedure with the appropriate rigour, searching instead for some poor sap to take the fall.
The four characters each have a distinct role: character D, sent down from Upstairs to extract a statement from A (the person of conscience who wants to tell the truth) and B (the placator, the concealer) outlining the role of their department in the disaster; and character C, the manipulator playing a hidden role and engineering the twist at the end. Danced to a soundtrack of spoken word alongside music by Owen Belton, it’s utterly gripping from start to finish, and mesmerisingly performed by Ashley Dean (A) Joseph Sissens (B) Kristen McNally (C) and Calvin Richardson (D). The clever way the movement reflects the spoken script makes for a memorably immersive experience.
By anyone’s standards, The Royal Ballet is one of the world’s top five ballet companies. It’s important that, as well as maintaining and valuing its wonderful back catalogue of major classical works, the company should provide opportunities for emerging choreographers and established ones working in alternative styles: I imagine Kevin O’Hare must have a significant box-ticking task as part of the funding agreement with the Arts Council. This season there is perhaps a little more contemporary work than suits the audience demographic. A discussion for another day, perhaps.
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