The Next Generation Festival at the Linbury Theatre is now well underway, and this weekend saw contrasting performances by New English Ballet Theatre and Norwegian National Ballet 2 (junior company) in a mixed programme of five ballets. The Festival offers many opportunities not only for young dancers and choreographers but for us, the wider audience, to catch a glimpse of developing talent at home and abroad.
The bill opened with New English Ballet Theatre presenting two ballets, the first of which was a commission for Royal Ballet principal Matthew Ball, Acts of Exaltation. Ball is a highly inventive and intelligent individual, and working with NEBT appears to have been beneficial to all concerned. To music by Claudio Monteverdi, the piece explores religious rituals and ceremonial acts which are depicted by steadily building the choreography to suggest a series of familiar works of art and images.
Beautifully danced (I especially enjoyed Genevieve Heron and Jerome Barnes) and musically pleasing, the only embellishment that seemed like an unnecessary frivolity was Ball walking onto the stage from the auditorium at the start of the proceedings and then coming on at the end to collect a discarded scarf. The rest made very good sense.
Daniela Cardim, NEBT’s assistant director (but soon to depart to direct Ballet Arizona) is a seasoned choreographer. Baroque Encounters, set to various compositions by JS Bach, is a well crafted piece of choreography that echoes the music exactly. In various configurations, duets and pas de trois, the piece unfolds with fluidity and while this wasn’t world-shaking innovation, it suited the dancers who were in fine form.
Norwegian National Ballet 2, made up of 14 dancers aged between 18 and 22, proved to be an exceptionally talented group of fresh-faced and accomplished performers. Main company dancer Anaïs Touret has created a new piece especially for NNB2, Where It Began, to music by Joey McNamara. A strikingly eerie piece, looking a little futuristic, but with an imaginative vocabulary, it demonstrates a truly original choreographic voice. The five dancers of the cast deftly negotiated the surprises in the choreography, the stark lighting and white clothing adding to the dramatic movement theme. This was a compelling start for NNB2.
Limerence by Kumiko Hayakawa provided a huge contrast in a showcase of neo-classical excellence. Set to music by Brahms and with a cast of ten, the work comprised a series of enchaînements that challenged the dancers and highlighted the crispness of their technique. Beautifully stretched feet, lovely lines and light, airy ballon were matched with warm personalities from both the men and the women. Particularly engaging was Taeryeong Kim, with her beautiful port de bras and supremely graceful movement style.
The final ballet was the first piece that Paul Lightfoot and Sol León created together. Step Lightly (1991) made me wish that we were able to see more of their work in the UK. Prolific choreographers, with most of the pieces being created for the Nederlands Dans Theater 1 & 2 and widely staged in other European companies, it is a mystery to me that we have to wait for a visiting company to turn up (or travel abroad) before we see just how good their work is.
Step Lightly is set to Bulgarian folk music – Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares – and with a wintery backcloth, represents the precarious challenge of treading on thin ice.
For four women and two men, Lightfoot/León’s distinctive choreographic style was meticulously executed by each of the cast. There was often an element of humour present, which sat comfortably alongside lifts that were thrown away with a sense of abandonment. What was most striking about NNB2 was the way they adapted so seamlessly to the different choreographic styles in each of the ballets. NNB2 acts as a feeder company for Norwegian National Ballet. What a difficult task lies ahead for the main company to have to choose from such prodigiously talented dancers.
