Wayne McGregor’s The Dante Project has had its first revival for The Royal Ballet since it was premiered in 2021. It’s an epic spectacle with much to admire but, with a few notable exceptions, the choreography is not at the top of the list. McGregor’s collaborators fare better.
The impression I had first time around has not altered much and whilst one appreciates the monumental task that lay ahead of him from the outset, it’s fair to say that what transpires on stage, although not disappointing, it just doesn’t quite do what it says on the tin. The major plusses are Thomas Adès' richly textured score (his first for dance), Tacita Dean's sets and costumes (also her first for dance), Lucy Carter's and Simon Bennison's lighting and the input from dramaturg Uzma Hameed.
Based on Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, a narrative poem which was begun at the start of the 14th century and took twelve years to complete, it is considered to be one of the greatest literary works ever written. Given its length, it will come as no surprise that the individual characters are given scant chance to develop and if you are not familiar with the work, blink and you might just miss one of the main protagonists.
The performance is split into three parts beginning with Inferno: Pilgrim, where Dante is guided through Hell by Virgil. Underneath the massive, inverted mountain range that is Dean’s backdrop, they encounter every incarnation of sinner from Thieves, The Selfish and The Wrathful to Satan. Gary Avis reprised his role as Virgil, his commanding stage presence never deserting him. William Bracewell is new this season to the role of Dante (Edward Watson who created it, has moved on to coaching) and he delivered an emotional and heartfelt performance. Always charismatic and technically brilliant it struck me (not for the first time) just how much he is consigned to the sidelines, particularly in this first act, which is very long.
Other notable performances were Marcelino Sambé and Yasmine Naghdi in the brief Ferryman duet, Francesca Hayward and Matthew Ball in another brief duet as the adulterers Francesca and Paolo, Anna Rose O’Sullivan as Dido in The Forest of Suicides and probably the highlight choreographically, Calvin Richardson as the silky, slinky embodiment of Ulysses. Melissa Hamilton was exceptionally beautiful as Satan but without reading the programme and looking at the titles on the cast sheet, these named characters have little to distinguish them in terms of narrative and choreography. How was one to know that Francisco Serrano and Joseph Sissens were Soothsayers? The moment when it really fell apart was during the episode called Thieves where the stage was filled with male dancers, mostly principals and soloists, who frantically leapt about and pirouetted in a frenzied five minutes, partly covered by dry ice and randomly stepping in as if they were in some sort of dance-off. Knowing where to focus was a challenge.
The second and third parts are much shorter and easier on the eye. Purgatorio: Love was a series of memories. Dante remembers his great love, Beatrice (Fumi Kaneko) and we see her in three stages of life: as a child (Anna Kondo); as an adolescent (Hayward) and finally as a young woman. Kaneko and Bracewell appeared to be heavenly pairing. Physically they were exquisitely well matched but there was a palpable chemistry too. Their brief pas de deux was another highlight of the performance.
The five Penitents: Ball, Sambé, Sissens, Lukas B Brændsrød and Nicol Edmonds worked hard in their passages of dancing (along with Bracewell) but they also sat around quite a bit. Their obvious talents were rather wasted. Dean’s jacaranda tree was most impressive and Adès’ music provided the impetus for a huge variety of expression.
The final part, Paradiso: Poema Sacro, Dean has placed a screen above the stage with ever-evolving circular colours which one assumes are meant to represent planets (according to the programme). The vast corps de ballet were kitted out in shiny, white unitards as Celestial Bodies. Under scrutiny, one realised that the ‘corps’ was actually populated with principals and soloists. It’s one way of making the company look miraculously brilliant (which they are anyway) but it’s also a shame to see so many top dancers being relegated and underused. The ending is powerful, but without utilising a great imagination, some serious help from the programme and a score that really does tell the story, it simply doesn’t tick all the boxes.
Jonathan Lo and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House saved the day along with the superlative dancers of The Royal Ballet.
