While the first of English National Ballet’s tributes to the Ballets Russes focused on works with a ‘nature’ theme, this second programme was more sporty – an apt topic for London 2012. First, there is Apollo, one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities, then a game of tennis. Then there is an acrobat, and, finally, a marathon of non-stop technical classical feats.
Spring has sprung in London, and there was a definite taste of nature and things new abounding at the Coliseum in the first of two programmes by English National Ballet. In Beyond Ballets Russes 1 there is a ‘newly hatched’ bird, two very different ‘faunes’ and a freshly outfitted pagan ritual to the god of spring.
