Christopher Marney and London City Ballet more than deserve every accolade received during their first year of reincarnation. As the new company enters its second year, Marney has again used his exceptional skills to bring together a group of outstanding dancers, superb coaches and brilliant choreography to produce an evening of thoroughly absorbing dance.
The first half consists of a mix of the old and the new, in keeping with LCB’s ethos of resurrecting pieces that are seldom seen nowadays, alongside new work. Balanchine’s Haieff Divertimento, made in 1947, was thought lost until Francisco Moncion and Todd Bolender, both members of the original cast, put their memories to the test and pieced it back together, eventually persuading Tanaquil LeClerq, who holds the rights, to license it for performance.
It may not rank amongst the great man’s finest work, but it still resonates with his intentions, his musicality and his unique understanding of the art form. Taking on Balanchine is a big ask for a small company; not only is the work technically challenging and often quirky, it also requires an airy confidence and freedom of style that is difficult to achieve unless you are dancing his ballets very regularly. In technical terms there was little to fault here, and the cast had clearly received meticulous coaching from Deborah Wingert.
Liam Scarlett’s lovely Consolations and Liebestraum, to the eponymous Liszt, was instrumental early in his career in demonstrating his exciting creativity and technical choreographic skills. This is a beautiful piece. Six couples dressed in black explore the progress of a relationship, from the thrill of the beginning to the agony of the end, via the memories of a woman alone (Alina Cojocaru, and how wonderful it was to see her back with the company). Beautiful pas de deux illustrate each stage, all beautifully danced by Yuria Isaka, Arthur Wille, Jimin Kim, Nicholas Vavrecka, Cojocaru and Joseph Taylor.
Cojocaru is, as she always has been, a radiant prescience on stage. I admired the work of Yuria Isaka, who had more to show later in the programme: she was trained at the superb Académie Princesse Grace in Monaco. Marney has a particularly talented group of men in the company. Arthur Wille is young and bursting with talent and technical facility, a genuine star in the making. Joseph Taylor is always, for me, the dancer to see at Northern Ballet, a strong dance artist who is never less than engrossing in performance, and a superb partner.
A new work, Soft Shore, by Paris Opera Ballet Premier Danseur Florent Melac, was perhaps a little too long but contained plenty of interesting moments, and was beautifully staged with smoke effects and soft blue-toned backcloth, costumes and lighting. On this evidence Melac has a future as a choreographer. Wille and Taylor shone again, joined by global star Alejandro Virelles and the luminous Constance Devernay-Laurence.
Virelles, Cuban trained and with an excellent personal repertoire gleaned over several years as a principal with some of the world’s most revered companies, enriches every step of choreography he dances with elegant physicality and immersive commitment. Devernay-Laurence is a joy to watch for those who know the craft; she uses every inch of elasticity in her muscles to fill the space around each musical note, and her strength enables her to end each movement with a tiny, fleeting moment of stillness, creating a seamless flow of dance pictures.
And now to the main event: Alexei Ratmansky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. What an artist Ratmansky is. His choreography is always intricate, fascinating in its intellectual construction, but full of emotion and true, deeply knowledgeable musicality. It’s also jolly demanding! The original 2014 cast included some of New York City Ballet’s most technically accomplished stars, but LCB’s dancers seemed entirely unfazed, whizzing through Tiler Peck’s speedy sequences, or capturing the weight and majesty of Sara Mearns’ solo. Plaudits to stager Amar Ramasar.
Visually the piece is stunning, set against a changing backdrop of Kandinsky-esque shapes and patterns that also influence the colours and shapes of the costumes. As always with Ratmansky, there are some stunning, innovative lifts, as well as thrilling sequences of pure classical steps. Once again, beautiful dancing shone out from all those mentioned above, and I also admired the powerful work of Josué Gomez and the incipient flair of Lydia Rose Hough.
Highest praise is due to pianist Reina Okada; she played the Liszt superbly, and brilliantly captured the grandeur of the Great Gate of Kiev, the humour of the Chickens and the menace of Gnomus in Mussorgsky’s piano score for Pictures.
The company will be on tour throughout the coming year: don’t miss the chance to see them if you can. They represent all the passion and respect for high standards that make our beloved art form what it is.
