THE ROYAL BALLET: BACK ON STAGE*****

 

By Louise

Link: https://stream.roh.org.uk/packages/the-royal-ballet-back-on-stage-1/videos/the-royal-ballet-back-on-stage £3

Available until: Sunday 8^th November. The performance starts half an hour into the video.

We’ve watched a lot of videos of the Royal Ballet recently, but this was different. This wasn’t a recording. It was live onstage with real dancers touching each other. There was even an audience of students, nurses and their families. It wasn’t a full house because of social distancing (and because the orchestra were spaced out around the whole of the Stalls), but they sounded like a big audience.

The orchestra, which was conducted by Jonathan Lo, sounded really gorgeous. There are lots of different styles of composition, from Henry Purcell to much more modern works. Some of the extracts are from the famous ballets which all ballet fans know and which non-ballet fans often find they know too, but there is a lot of less famous music and some of it technically isn’t classical.

The ballet dancers were socially distanced during rehearsals and they wore masks, but they were allowed to remove them for this performance. Some pairs of dancers are allowed to dance together and touch, but some had to stay distanced from everybody, as we saw in the brilliant finale. In between the dances, presenter Anita Rani interviewed many people from the Royal Ballet world, including dancers, coaches and some of the people who work backstage. It was really interesting to hear about their work and how it has changed because of all the COVID rules. It’s also really wonderful to see how happy they all are to be involved in a performance again.

I really like the decision to open the show with the Sleeping Beauty overture by Tchaikovsky because this concert is all about the reawakening of the Royal Ballet. It sounded really lovely. For a similar reason, I really liked Untouchables by Hofesh Shechter and Neil Catchpole, choreographed by Hofesh Schechter. The stage is dark with lots of mist and the music is very ominous. I think it’s a very appropriate choice for the times we live in, when we can’t touch people outside our bubble.

One of my favourite performances of the night was the Act II pas de deux from Swan Lake with Akane Takada and Federico Bonelli. I loved the emotional connection between them and of course it was very special to see their physical connection too. Lee Ivanov’s choreography is really beautiful. As I like Tchaikovsky’s ballets a lot, I was also really happy to see the ‘Diamonds’ pas de deux from Jewels, choreographed by George Balanchine and danced by Sarah Lamb and Ryochi Hirano.

There was also a gorgeous pas de deux from La fille mal gardee. It is such a happy dance too and I loved the way Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Marcellino Sambe played Lise and Colas. They are two of my favourite characters in opera because they seem so real and I could imagine being friends with them both.

One of my favourite parts of 2020 was getting to know Shakespeare’s plays better and there were dances from two ballets which are based on Shakespeare’s plays. First we saw Frederick Ashton’s choreography for the Scherzo and pas de deux from Mendelssohn’s music for The Dream, then the Act 1 pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet, composed by Sergey Prokofiev and choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan. I think I’ve seen at least six productions each of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo & Juliet it was extra exciting to see parts of the ballets now I know the original characters so much better. I especially liked Valentino Zucchetti as Puck, and Laura Morera and William Bracewell were lovely as Titania and Oberon. It makes a nice change to see them getting on so well. Francesca Hayward and Cesar Corrales were really passionate as Romeo and Juliet.

It was also nice to hear some really early music. Natalia Osipova danced Medusa with haunting music by Henry Purcell, sung by Ailish Tynan. Sidi Larbi has created choreography so the dancer’s body is like the snakes in her hair.

I loved the Act III pas de deux from Don Quixote with Marianela Nunez and Martin Yates. Ludwig Minkus’ music (arranged by Martin Yates) is so beautiful and Marius Petipa’s choreography is amazing. I like the way he puts stillness into it, as well as more intense dancing.

There are also highlights from Doncaster Dances which is a Learning and Participation Dance Film. It shows people in Doncaster dancing to Romeo & Juliet in gardens, in care homes, some in large groups and some on their own. It’s a really lovely idea and the dancing looks really good.

It wasn’t all classical music – there was a dance from Carousel, choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan and danced by Mayara Magri and Matthew Ball. It was really exciting and romantic. There is also some ragtime to close the show in Elite Syncopations, choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan.

I really loved this concert, partly because the Royal Ballet are finally performing together again and partly because the Royal Ballet created such a broad programme – including some dances I haven’t mentioned. I really enjoyed it a lot and I hope to see the Royal Ballet again soon.