Birmingham Royal Ballet, Covent Garden 9/6/97
hale...@logica.com
Birmingham Royal Ballet, Covent Garden 9/6/97
Hindle / York / Bintley
The opening night of BRB’s London season at Covent Garden brought us a mixed program
of three works, all of which have been newly created for the company this season.
BRB have had a great burst of confidence and creativity in the last few years. They
are on the way up and they know it, and it’s visible in their dancing. That they
offer such a program (and sell out the Opera House) is proof of their confidence in
themselves and their audiences. I wonder how long it is since the RB did anything as
daring at Covent Garden. (By the way, the next new work to be danced in London by
the RB is scheduled for summer 1998).
BRB may theoretically be the second company, but in terms of what it achieves with
the dancers it has, and how it exploits its resources, it is way ahead of the Royal.
The whole tone of the company is different. Whereas the Royal is wedded to starry
principals carrying big three act ballets on the strength of their name, BRB is much
more of a company, and its works tend more to be ensemble pieces which show off the
skills of the group rather than being dominated by or dependent on individuals.
The first offering was Bright Young Things, by Oliver Hindle, who dances with the
company. It had its premiere just a few days previously. It is set to the music of
Gershwin, and is a light and frothy evocation of the twenties, with a good deal of
flirting and teasing. Some moves seemed derivative of MacMillan (girls slid by their
partners across the floor on pointe, complex lifts of one woman by a crowd of men
etc.), and some pas de deux went on a little too long, but although Hindle is still
learning, he seems quite confident and not intimidated by the Opera House stage. The
cast took to it all with great verve. Monica Zamora was particularly sultry and
predatory, and Leticia Muller demonstrated just how sexy a woman dressed in a man’s
suit can be. I particularly liked Chi Cao. A complaint from many (especially those
at the back) was that the lighting was so dull that it was rather difficult to see.
A shame, because the costumes were wonderful, and decidedly covetable.
The second work was Sanctum, commissioned from Lila York, who isn’t that well known
as a choreographer in Britain (I think this is her first work over here). There’s
very little background to this in the programme notes, but Yorke has been quoted as
saying that she wanted to represent the stresses and strains of the modern world.
The piece opens with a daydreaming male figure (Robert Parker) dancing to Ravel. The
music changes to Christopher Rouse, and the daydream is shattered. This second
section is invaded by strange threatening female automata in some very quirky
costumes - imagine the Wilis crossed with robots - and the hero is bullied,
threatened and manipulated. Some of the images were peculiarly arresting. Robert
Parker has a growing reputation: he’s only been in the company a couple of years. He
looks very comfortable and relaxed in his dancing, very natural, as if he didn’t
have to think about it at all. Quite impressive. The third section reverts to Ravel
and a dreamy quietness. I didn’t think this final section worked as well - the piece
seemed to drift into the distance rather than end.
The evening closed with David Bintley’s Nutcracker Sweeties, set to Duke Ellington’s
reworking of Tchaikovsky. This is far too entertaining to be kept only as a
Christmas treat. It is recognisably from the same choreographer who created Still
Life at the Penguin Cafe, and does share some characteristics with that ballet - it
is structured as a series of numbers, each showing off a dancer or dancers, the
music is witty, the costumes gorgeous and inventive (by Jasper Conran in this
instance), and it makes you laugh. It’s not often ballet is this much fun.
It’s quite difficult to pick out favourite moments from this extravaganza, because
it was all performed with terrific energy and charm. The Chinese, Arabian and
Russian dances from the original all have their counterparts here, all with suitably
daft names. I loved Monica Zamora as Sugar Rum Cherry (or was it Rita Hayworth ?)
prowling across the stage in her red satin gown and long evening gloves, flashing
her legs like weapons. Also Silvia Jiminez, who was very pert as Candy Cane. Joseph
Cipolla and Chenca Williams were outrageously over the top as the Floreador and
Floreadoress - they looked as if they were really enjoying it as much as we were.
Cheer yourself up. Just go and see it
regards
Lynette
Rima Cooke
In <19970612212...@ladder02.news.aol.com> svke...@aol.com
(SVKeeley) writes:
>
>In article <5nmeda$8...@romeo.logica.co.uk>, hale...@logica.com
writes:
>
>>Birmingham Royal Ballet, Covent Garden 9/6/97
>>Hindle / York / Bintley
>
>
>>Cheer yourself up. Just go and see it
>
the
>only ballet to be seen for miles around is the bits in "Phantom of the
>Opera."
>
>Woe is me.
Wait a minute. What about your own mouth-watering reviews of ABT and
NYCB in NYC?? You've done your fair share of tantalizing people! I
certainly wish I could get over and see them (and then keep sailing
over the ocean to London!).