Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, a month-long dance festival in London, ended with three works by George Balanchine, the Georgian American choreographer who began his creativity with Diaghilev and ended it with hundreds of works that set the seal on American ballet.
That we don’t see enough of Balanchine’s works in the UK is a mighty understatement, and so it was a welcome change to have a full evening of early Balanchine choreography as a reminder of what an innovative, musical, and genius choreographer he was. The programme was conducted by Fayçal Karoui (a former music director at New York City Ballet), and the orchestral performance was majestic.
The evening began with Serenade, made in 1934 as a piecemeal exercise to Tchaikovsky’s music for Balanchine’s senior students at that time. The curtain rising on the opening tableau of 17 women inevitably produces a sharp intake of breath as they stand rooted to the spot in diagonal lines. They move one hand in synchronisation, from brow to chest and down by their sides, before snapping their feet into first position like uncoiled springs.
The Royal Ballet will never be as well versed with Balanchine choreography as his home company in New York (where it is the regular diet), and some aspects of the performance seemed anglicised. Since Balanchine himself altered the choreography and kept in aspects that came from different performers, I’m guessing that he would not have minded these slight idiosyncrasies. The three lead women at this performance – Annette Buvoli, Anna Rose O’Sullivan, and Olivia Cowley (as the Dark Angel) – were all suitably enigmatic, strongly supported by Reece Clarke and Nicol Edmonds. The general whirl of kaleidoscopic movement and the final elegiac departing procession with Buvoli held above head height presented beautiful, plotless imagery, which these dancers carried off excellently.
From Serenade, we went further back in time to 1929 and the final work that Balanchine made for Diaghilev, based on the biblical story of The Prodigal Son with an energetic, bespoke score by Prokofiev. Cesar Corrales delivered a strong and expressive performance as the youngest son who leaves the family home for a riotous life in the city, only to return home, beaten and penniless.
Mayara Magri was a sensuous siren, luring the young man into profligacy, and the corps of nine men were a riot of grotesque naughtiness as the drinking companions. It’s been several years since this ballet was last performed in Covent Garden, and although none of these dancers will have performed it before, their rendition was suitably cherished. George Rouault’s timeless, colourful designs never fail to impress.
The evening finished with Symphony in C, created for the Paris Opera Ballet and originally named Le Palais de Cristal, a title I prefer since it conveys the ballet’s elegant sumptuousness perfectly. Danced to the four movements of Bizet’s score (music that was apparently not discovered until almost 60 years after the composer’s death), the female corps de ballet shimmered in their white tutus.
Vadim Muntagirov and Fumi Kaneko led the first movement with stately grandeur; Marianela Nunez reprised the ballerina role inthe second, Adagio movement with breath-taking fluency, strongly supported by Reece Clarke; Sae Maeda and Taisuke Nakao sparkled in the Allegro movement; and Leticia Dias and Joseph Sissens led the concluding section where all dancers return to the stage for a great example of the grand magical finales that Balanchine loved to choreograph. The company fielded a mix of emerging and more experienced dancers to deliver a five-star performance of this gorgeous ballet.
All three Balanchine ballets were coached by Patricia Neary, now 82 and a direct link back to Balanchine himself. Sadly, these were her last stagings before retirement. I sense that she allowed dancers to imprint their own personalities on these vintage works, which I love since ballet is a living art. She is clearly cherished by the dancers, and her guidance will be sorely missed.
Check out the upcoming shows at the Royal Ballet and Opera.
Review by Graham Watts
