16th November 2022 live cinema stream
The Diamond Celebration was a principal-packed gala for the Friends of Covent Garden who support the Royal Ballet through generous donations and encouragement. This shaped the programme for the evening, which included pieces from Britain’s leading choreographers from the inception of the Friends in 1950s through to the present day, danced alongside world premieres of new works.
Starting the proceedings were Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Alexander Campbell dancing a pas de deux from La Fille Mal Gardee by Ashton. It was perfectly nicely danced, but was missing the sprinkling of magic you get from being ensconced in the full-length production with all the trimmings.
Next, representing Kenneth Macmillan was the ‘Bedroom’ pas de deux from Act 1 of Manon danced beautifully by Akane Takada and Calvin Richardson. Next came Qualia by Wayne McGregor which was absolutely spell-binding. Melissa Hamilton’s flexibility was full in the spotlight, but she took those poses and movements so artistically it really worked. And Lukas B Brændsrød’s partnering was excellent.
The first act finished with For Four, a joyous celebration of ballet with contemporary touches danced by Matthew Ball, James Hay, Marcelino Sambe and Vadim Muntagirov. What a treat! Choreographer Christopher Wheeledon talked about this in the live stream and commented how he originally set this on four dancers from NYCB and has matched the personalities and dancer styles of these to four dancers at the RB. Packed with technical difficulty and executed perfectly with great character by each of the dancers, the piece is beautifully set to a string quartet by Schubert (another Four performers) and there was nothing not to love.
The second act was more mixed – it began with an ensemble piece by new-to-ballet choreographer Joseph Toonga who brought his style of hip hop to the ballet company. For me, See Us!! was more theatrical movement than dance. Standing – walking – aggressive arm gestures – set to a screeching arrangement of sounds, did not make it very likeable. Pam Tanowitz’s piece Dispatch Duet was a self-reflective piece; she explained in the interval interview it was about putting on a piece at the Royal Opera House. It was danced precisely and fluently by Anna Rose O’Sullivan and William Bracewell and their costumes and the sequencing of movements and poses was very striking.
It’s fantastic when a gala opens your ears to a new composer, and discovering Saint-Preveux has been a joy. Creative-filled piece concerto pour deux by Benoit Swan Pouffer, artistic director at Rambert, was four minutes of dancing pleasure. Who could have picked a better pairing than Natalia Osipova and Steven McRae to deliver this intense, emotional, love and anguish-filled pas de deux which allowed them both to showcase their immense balletic and artistic talents.
Finally in this act was Prima by Valentino Zucchetti, first soloist at the RB. This promised much from the live rehearsal on World Ballet Day, but it didn’t translate to excitement on the stage. The costumes by Roksanda Ilincic were very strange, and as the piece was designed to be a celebration of the ballerina, only Fumi in her ruffled long dress could be excited about what she was wearing. The lighting – or lack of on large parts of the stage also took away from the dancing – with one pair dancing in silhouette through a passage of nice choreography. Fumi Kaneko, Yasmine Naghdi, Mayara Magri and Francesca Hayward certainly proved their principal status, but there was a lack of joy in the air.
The third and final act consisted of Diamonds from Balanchine’s Jewels. Marianela Nunez and Reece Clark did a splendid job and sparkled their way through their pas de deux segments, interspersed with some very basic choreography from the flock of artists on stage. It didn’t seem to put the lower ranks to much of a challenge and the stage was so busy at times it wasn’t easy to appreciate what they were dancing. Nevertheless it was a fitting crescendo to a fantastic evening of dance.
The programme certainly showcased the strength of the Royal Ballet as it stands today. What it also showed was how full the Company is and how many great talents they have – are there enough shows in a season to give them all the chance to shine?