If there’s one date in the calendar that’s guaranteed to sell out and feel a little like a school reunion, it’s the annual Summer Performance by the Royal Ballet School on the main stage of the Royal Opera House. With the added thrill that it is celebrating 100 years since Dame Ninette de Valois founded the school, it was quite overwhelming to recall the number of students, teachers, choreographers and other dance related people who have walked the various corridors over the decades.
It was down to Artistic Director Iain Mackay to curate an appropriate and inclusive programme that covered enough history and current choreography to showcase the school as it is today. Alongside that, he had 200 students (and their parents) to please. In the first pause between works, he gave an impassioned and heart-warming speech in front of the curtain about his vision and pride in the school. Everything he said, convinced me that he is the right person to be at the helm and to lead it into a very successful future.
The afternoon opened with Act 3 of Sir Peter Wright’s Swan Lake – also in his 100th year and watching from the stalls. It doesn’t get more challenging than that. The lead roles were split between two couples, Sophie Schulten and Ivan Malaguti dancing the Black Swan pas de deux and Samantha Striplin and Fabrizzio Ulloa Cornejo dancing the variations and coda. The thought of marching on stage to tackle the solo without any kind of lead up to it, sent shivers up my spine.
There are elements that don’t sit easily when you lift an act from a full-length ballet and it’s danced out of context. However, overall, the dancing was stupendous, from the character dances to the princesses and the lead roles. Both Odiles, in spite of truly breathtaking techniques, need a bit more time to get underneath the skin of the role. While the fouettés, astonishingly well executed by Striplin, are often discussed, admired and used as a benchmark, they should not be the focus of appraisal. Malaguti is a prince in waiting; Cornejo’s performance was jaw-dropping both in terms of technique (such beautifully controlled pirouettes) and presentation.
Kristen McNally’s Proceedings for White Lodgers Years 7, 8 and 9 was completely joyous. With fresh choreography, it was a perfect exercise in learning to work as a team. David Bintley’s Beauchamp’s Garden was an example of choreography that exactly expressed Poulenc’s music. Emma Lucano (who had just danced a superbly airborne Polish Princess) and Malaguti once again led a vibrant cast in the first movement and Alecsia Maria Lazarescu and Millán de Benito shone in the second.
After the interval it was Cathy Marston’s A Line in Reflection which led us into the second half. A clever piece drawing on a dancer’s need to work with a mirror in order to improve, it tested the students’ ability to exactly mimic each other. Deborah Bull’s appearance as a teacher reminiscing on a life in dance was charming and somehow very apt.
De Valois’ Checkmate was incredibly impactful. I do wish they had done the whole ballet instead of just excerpts. It was a testament to her excellent choreography but also to the tenacity with which the students tackled it. Wendel Viera Teles Dos Santos was outstanding as the Red Knight, as were the Four Knights while Anna Nouvenne showed great promise as The Black Queen.
Andrew McNicol’s Of Strength & Grace reaffirmed my confidence in his future as a major choreographer. To Edvard Grieg’s music, like Balanchine, he shows his dancers in a fluid, lyrical style – challenging them but never overstretching them. Working with Years 10 and 11, it was hard to believe they were still at White Lodge.
Jessica Lang’s new creation, The First Voice, to poems written by de Valois and voiced by Darcey Bussell, Monica Mason and Kevin O’Hare, was a very touching experience. Christopher Wheeldon’s Christening Suite followed and was danced by the Pre Professional Year to the highest standards but it felt like one piece too many at this stage.
The Grand Défilé is always the high point and something to genuinely look forward to. The tiniest students to the graduates, beaming at the audience to Czerny’s Études sends a surge of adrenaline like no other. A triumphant finale to a performance that was brimming with talent and a whole bunch of names to watch out for in the future.
