The Royal Ballet: Back on Stage

What a year. Anyone else bloated, hungover and fed up? Not just me I hope. There’s been a lot of discussion recently about the future of the arts in a post-Covid world, and with lack of funding and theatres still mainly closed, many of us are wondering what that future will look like. For those who view the arts as the bottom of the pile in terms of priorities right now, I would beg them to watch ‘The Royal Ballet: Back on Stage’. In times of trouble, disturbance and chaos, there is nothing better to balance our woes than immersing ourselves in dance, theatre, music or however you consume the arts. My greatest form of escapism is being taken to another place by the beauty and grace of ballet. To fund the arts and keep it alive isn’t just necessary, it’s imperative. Without it, I fear we will find ourselves in a pretty grey and boring existence. That being said, life was full of colour again as we all settled in to watch The Royal Ballet return to the stage after months away in isolation. The Royal are one of the best companies in the world, but after months away would they be able to keep their stellar status? Well from where I was sitting, it was as if they had never left the Royal Opera House stage. The varied programme really showed off the talents of the whole company and reminded us all just how special they really are.

Yasmine Naghdi in Elite Syncopations, copyright Chris Jackson

As wonderful as this gala was, I found the opening 40 minutes a bit too solemn. Johnny Lo led the inspiring orchestra with the overture to Sleeping Beauty which kick started the evening, having also opened the House in 1946 after another very dark period. After this defiant beginning, we were given Hofesh Shechter’s Untouchable, the melancholic pas de deux from Swan Lake, In Our Wishes by Cathy Marston and the pas de deux from Diamonds, all of which set a really solemn and low tempo mood which surprised me considering this should be a jubilant return to the stage. It’s been a catastrophic year of epic proportions and personally I felt a cheerier and more uplifting start to the evening would have set the tone better. There’s a place for it all, but being interspersed into the programme would have been a bit better; however, maybe getting the sad stuff over and done with early on was the intention. Although a slow start, this didn’t disrupt the beauty of the programme, all of which I loved. Below are my thoughts on each segment of the repertoire.

Untouchable

I enjoyed seeing a segment from Untouchable again as I’m a big fan of Hofesh Shechter’s choreography. It was also a good way to get more of the company members on stage and to see them dancing together again. Oh how we’ve missed them!

Swan Lake

Seeing Akane Takada and Federico Bonelli dance the pas de deux from Swan Lake again brought back a lot of emotions as they were the last couple I saw live on stage when they performed this ballet in full at the start of the year. Takada is such an exquisite Odette, with arms that melt like butter and classical lines that any ballerina would envy. She is so beautiful in this and Bonelli proves he’s still got it whilst partnering her confidently. Takada is such a wonderful classical ballerina and so Swan Lake is the perfect ballet for her to showcase her natural technique.

In Our Wishes

This pas de deux between Reece Clarke and Fumi Kaneko was filled with emotion and passion. Clarke and Kaneko dance so naturally together and they are matched in physical beauty. It was my greatest sadness not to see Kaneko make her debut in Swan Lake due to Covid. She has such beautiful lines and a graceful quality to her dancing. Clarke is also gorgeous to watch and together they create something quite special. I really enjoyed Cathy Marston’s choreography. I felt it depicted all of the complexities and complications one can face in a relationship. To me, it was about a couple on the brink of their end together, neither one wanting to admit it’s over, clinging to each other where they can, but ultimately realising that they can’t stay together. Emosh stuff!

Diamonds

Who doesn’t love this pas de deux from George Balanchine’s Diamonds? Sarah Lamb and Ryoichi Hirano give a heart-warming performance here. Every step is crisp and clean, just what you want when watching Balanchine’s choreography. Together, Hirano and Lamb are statuesque and languid. Lamb always shines in Balanchine but alongside the secure partnering from Hirano she is able to sparkle even more. They remind me of the figurines you place on top of a wedding cake, all embellished and full of celebration.

Carousel

I grew up watching Carousel so it already has a special place in my heart but this performance brought a tear to my eye the more and more I’ve watched it. Mayara Magri captures the essence of the character perfectly, kicking back the sand and playfully dancing around with tomboyish abandon. Matthew Ball oozes the perfect amount of roughness for us to believe him as someone who works on the carousel. There is such wonderful chemistry between the two of them and I think they could bring a lot out of each other if they were paired together more. The theme to If I Loved You is emotional anyway as it has such a pretty melody but paired with the wonderful choreography and the chemistry between these two, there was some pretty teary watching from my end. This was definitely one of the highlights from this gala and I would love to see Ball and Magri dance more together, especially when it comes to MacMillan’s choreography.

Within The Golden Hour

It’s great to see excerpts from this ballet again and it was a joy to see more of the corps members of the company in the gala. I’ve always enjoyed Christopher Wheeldon’s choreography for this piece and the dancers all sparkled like the sequins on their costumes.

The Dream

I thought it was really clever to have two Oberons feature in this excerpt from Frederick Ashton’s The Dream. William Bracewell took the first appearance, his Oberon delicate and elegant which is unusual for someone as tall as he is. There is just something about Bracewell that I love. Ever since I saw his Siegfried in Swan Lake with Akane Takada, I have found him wonderful to watch. It’s a shame we haven’t seen as much of him as we would like since he joined The Royal due to injury, but when things go back to normal he will definitely be one to watch. Alex Campbell appears as our second Oberon, and he too is a dancer I love to watch. He partners Laura Morera as Titania in one of Ashton’s most beautiful pas de deux. They have always danced so beautifully together and there is no exception with this pas de deux. Morera is one of my favourite dancers to see in Ashton’s choreography as she is such a natural when performing his work and mastering his style. She is a superb Titania and Campbell brings the same quality to his Oberon. I love this reconciliation pas de deux between the sparring couple from Shakespeare’s epic play, and I felt so warmed by the end of it, as if I was clinging on to a cup of hot cocoa and nothing was wrong in the world!

La Fille mal gardee

Surely this has to be the standout performance, not just from this gala, but from any dance we’ve seen over the past few months? Marcelino Sambe was incredible when he first danced the role of Colas opposite Francesca Hayward, but how I long to see him dance it in full with Anna-Rose O’Sullivan. She has had such an incredible rise through the company and in the last couple of years has been given some meaty roles to sink her pointe shoes into, all of which she has mastered. I guess promotions weren’t given out this year, but if anyone’s on the list for Principal status it must be her. Her budding partnership with Sambe is bringing joy to everyone who sees it. They are perfectly matched; equally cheeky and equally passionate. I love everything that they do together. In this excerpt from Ashton’s La Fille mal gardee, O’Sullivan shows what a natural Ashton ballerina she is, whilst Sambe absolutely wows the audience as usual with high jumps, great control and his magnetic force. When they come together for the finale, they seem to be having the time of their lives, grinning widely with exuberant excitement...with Sambe even joining the audience with their rhythmic clapping. The final ‘bum lift’ is confident, long and stable and the loud and wonderous applause from the audience is most deserved.

Romeo and Juliet

It was a treat to see Cesar Corrales and Francesca Hayward perform the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet again, which brought back the best memories from their performances together which amazed everyone who saw them. I don’t often like watching MacMillan’s pas de deux out of context in galas because I think you need the full ballet to build up to the passion and drama; however, Corrales and Hayward have such natural chemistry that this didn’t matter much. Corrales seemed slightly more serious than he had been in their first performances, perhaps his Romeo contemplating where this night could lead, whilst Hayward was full of abandon. All I kept thinking was when can we see this ballet again with the two of them in the title roles? How I long to have my heart broken by them again!

Medusa

Unfortunately I missed the performances of Medusa when it premiered; however, I really enjoyed watching this solo. It was fabulous to see Natalia Osipova on stage again as she always gives everything to a performance and I loved her abandon and drive in this solo. I think she’s very impressive dancing in contemporary works and it’s clearly something she also loves to be a part of. Her face is so expressive and of course her technique is flawless. I think she brings a really powerful energy to this solo and I look forward to seeing her dance on stage again.

Woolf Works

I would argue that Woolf Works is the best thing Wayne McGregor has ever done for The Royal Ballet and I especially love this scene from it as it says so much about the effects of war, trauma and loss. The solemn tone is set by Ed Watson, Akane Takada and Calvin Richardson, all of whom interpret the scene so well. It’s probably one of the final performances we will see of Watson (who has announced his retirement from dancing), so in many ways it was very special to watch. Richardson looks every bit the young soldier and Takada the saddened wife. This was emotional viewing and, as always, incredibly powerful to watch.

Don Quixote

No surprises here that Vadim Muntagirov and Marianela Nunez dazzled in this pas de deux. I always say that every gala needs the famous Don Quixote pas de deux to really show off the virtuoso dancers of a company and Vadim and Nela did just that. A usual ray of sunshine to bring all of the excerpts to a close.

Elite Syncopations

What a clever way to end the evening with the colourful and playful choreography and music from Kenneth MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations. Yasmine Naghdi was a slinky feline vixen demonstrating incredible technique. She was the perfect choice to lead the whole company in this specially expanded performance and to dance them all to the finale. I have to mention how lovely it was seeing Fernando Montano on stage again as I didn’t realise how much I missed watching him dance. Gina Storm-Jensen also stood out for me in this, with her cool and seductive demeanour teasing the audience. Claire Calvert was effortlessly sublime as usual and the rest of the company performed with panache. This was a joyful end to such a varied and exciting gala. What a welcome back to the stage!