图片来源：sadlerswells.com

The British dance world emerged from the pandemic seemingly hell-bent on delivering programmes of angst and woe, oblivious to what its audiences actually needed: enjoyment and pleasure; London has been waiting for a post-covid feel-good evening of dance and finally English National Ballet and William Forsythe have come up trumps. Not that ENB has dropped any standards; in fact, it has raised them by engaging the now veteran choreographer William Forsythe whose high-octane neo-classicism and an unerring ability to choose the right music has made the company’s short season at Sadler’s Wells a copper-bottomed hit.
Forsythe is a contemporary dance-maker fully within the ballet tradition who revels in the beauty and prowess of classically-trained dancers and, unlike so very many who work with ballet companies at present, makes no apologies for their schooling and technique. No grovelling on the floor, no external, alien movement styles, just his own very modern take on the fundamental
danse d’
é
cole
. In so doing, he is closest to the great Russo-American choreographer George Balanchine, who believed passionately in ballet and extended what it could do by trusting it – what we currently see at Covent Garden, the Paris Opéra and at countless other ballet venues is nothing short of a lack of faith in the power of their own art form.
This double bill is a joyous celebration of ballet, a very modern presentation with ‘popular’ music, lyrics and rhythms, and it is Forsythe’s own brilliance that he sees how the vocabulary and grammar of the language of classical dancing is just as valid with such sounds as with Tchaikovsky, Ravel and Stravinsky. The juxtaposition of purity of physical position and line in
I Need A Forest Fire
, the first song of
Blake Works I
to the music of James Blake is a shock, two seemingly separate worlds colliding, but one sees how they can fuse as the work progresses, mood and atmosphere subtly shifting as varying combinations of dancers dance to the seven songs. Your reviewer was reminded frequently of Balanchine’s
Serenade
, his ‘blueprint’ for dance in America in which he revels in the language of classical ballet yet, often with positions and movements of the arms, indicates that this is something new and modern. Forsythe does exactly that in
Blake Works I
, arms and hands often playful, unexpected, emphatically contemporary. And yet this is a love letter to the art form, the choreographer’s understanding and mastery of the idiom complete – unlike many, ballet’s intrinsic beauty is never compromised by awkward or ugly movements; he remains firmly, gloriously within the idiom. ENB’s dancers looked very happy indeed speaking his language, the language of their own training and the basis of their entire raison d’être as artists and performers. They also looked energised and proud in what they were doing; Jeffrey Cirio and Isaac Hernández, Lead Principals both, were alive to the quicksilver grace notes in Forsythe’s choreography and it was good to see Emily Suzuki, a corps de ballet member, seize her ‘principal’ role with such attack and vitality. Rhys Antoni Yeomans, Julia Conway and Ivana Bueno stamped themselves on the mischievous trio
Put That Away And Talk To Me
, while Emma Hawes and Aitor Arrieta impressed in the final, controlled duet
f.o.r.e.v.e.r.
Impressive as
Blake Works I
was, it was a warm-up act for the extraordinary
Playlist (EP)
. Forsythe’s two-section
Playlist 1, 2
from 2018 has been expanded by him into a half-hour piece which can take its place alongside
Symphony in C
,
É
tudes
and
Suite en blanc
as a supreme abstract celebration of classical ballet. Set in a black box with dancers in simple costumes of electric blue and shocking pink, a torrent of dance is unleashed, each section an exploration of another side to the art form and each a success. The undimmed brilliance of bravura male dancing in the original
Surely Shorty
and
Impossible – Jax Jones Remix
is now separated by the sassy
VEGAS
, a celebration of female dancing in pink rah-rah skirts and tops reminiscent of Balanchine’s inspiration by the Rockettes for his ballet
Rubies
.
Location
, a joyous, flirtatious pas de deux for Precious Adams and James Streeter, artfully brings the focus in before the waves of movement the
Sha La La Means I Love You
led by Shiori Kase and Joseph Caley relishing every challenge set.
The audience clapped along, shouted whooped and applauded, and it was all richly deserved. Buoyed by us all and the knowledge that what they were performing was really, really good, the entire company beamed with pleasure – how rare is it to see performers who are actually enjoying themselves? The technical standards of the ensemble are impressively high; that is only one of soon-to-depart director Tamara Rojo’s achievements over the past ten years, and it was so satisfying to see this highly-likeable company rewarded with work which pushed and satisfied them. William Forsythe joined the dancers at the curtain call, a smile stretching from ear to ear. It is easy to understand why: this immensely enjoyable evening was nothing less than a vindication of his own belief in the validity of the classical dance idiom.
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