It’s always a delight to welcome members of the Birmingham Royal Ballet to the Royal and Derngate; this time the dancers were largely drawn from the BRB2 company, their emerging talent and rising stars of the dance world. There was much to thrill and enchant one’s inner balletomane on Saturday night, with a highly entertaining programme of works, all of which were first performed by the Ballets Russes between 1909 and 1924. With the exception of the two short dances from Les Biches, choreographed by Nijinksy’s sister Bronislava Nijinska, all the choreography was by Mikhail Fokine, no finer exponent of the art (imho).
The first part of the evening was devoted a performance of Les Sylphides, with Chopin’s music played live on the piano by Jeanette Wong. That opening tableau is one of the most iconic images in all classical ballet, with the corps de ballet slowly peeling off, whilst the main characters remain unmoving until their dances finally begin. The stark white of the costumes against the dark background creates a powerful impression, and there’s no hiding place during that sequence; any imperfection is instantly noticeable. To be honest, there were a couple of minor wobbles at first, but these were far outweighed by the overall excellent standard of dancing. The pointe work is extraordinary, and the fluidity, grace and delicacy of the performance was superb. My personal favourite sequence was Airi Kobayashi’s Mazurka; Ms Kobayashi has a remarkable lightness of touch, and she was always a sheer delight to watch. Marlo Kempsey-Fagg’s performance as the poet was also very engaging and precise, giving excellent support to his ballerinas, and delivering his solos with style.
After the interval, we had four shorter sequences of dance, starting with what was probably the best individual performance of the show, the pas de deux from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade, performed by Yoli Meurisse and Alfie-Lee Hall. The Birmingham Royal Ballet spares no expense on costumes, and this performance truly evoked the exoticism of the east. Ms Meurisse and Mr Hall had tremendous chemistry together, full of playfulness and excitement, and created a very rewarding and enjoyable dance.
Next came Le Spectre de la Rose, with Tom Hazelby giving a riveting performance as the spirit of the rose that falls from the hands of the sleeping young girl as she dreams of the ball she has just attended. Then followed two dances from Les Biches; Airi Kobayashi wickedly rattling her pearls as she performed an elegant Mazurka, and Hannah Martin and Jacopo Bianucci’s witty pas de deux – her, aloof and majestic; him, trying to impress as a strong man straight from the beach.
The final dance was a pas de deux from Stravinksy’s Firebird, a demanding and expressive piece full of angst and power, given a strong performance by Ellyn Knol and Ixan Ferrer. As a finale, the corps de ballet from Les Sylphides returned for a final dance before being joined by all the artists from the other dances; merging all the performers in their disparate costumes demonstrates the range of performance styles, skills and talents that they can all offer. It was a delightfully irreverent final combination and brought an engrossing and beautiful evening of dance to a very positive conclusion. There is one more performance of Carlos Acosta’s Ballet Celebration – Diaghilev and the Birth of Modern Ballet, at the New Theatre Peterborough on 29th May. Highly recommended!
