英国国家芭蕾舞团在皇家节日音乐厅演出——冬至——选段：《柯佩利亚》；《尘埃》；《三首前奏曲》；《海盗》；《睡美人》；《断翼》；《空心》；《天鹅湖》；播放列表（曲目 1、2）

Enterprising to a T, English National Ballet has taken an otherwise empty Royal Festival Hall for a couple of weeks with a
potpourri
medley of excerpts from some of their greatest recent successes and most popular works. It is a fun evening in which nothing outstays its welcome and which allows those unfamiliar with the company something of a taste of what they are and those who know it well the opportunity to revisit some of the repertoire.
What emerges is a bright and enthusiastic company which contains some notable dancers and has acquired some quality work. What is also revealed, however, is perhaps to have been expected after so long away from the stage: a clear confidence in and understanding of classical dance. It is true to say that those excerpts which required ‘pure’ ballet dancing were the least impressive.
Copp
élia
suffered from a distinct lack of ensemble and rather wayward musicality which robbed both the choreography and the music of their full combined impact; only Jeffrey Cirio as Franz displayed the
demi-caract
ère
brio and sparkle which this ballet needs. The ‘Jewels’
pas de cinq
from Kenneth MacMillan’s
The Sleeping Beauty
needs a purity of style which eluded the cast – their over-careful placement and four-square interpretation of the music were disappointing. Even the ‘Black Swan’ pas de deux from
Swan Lake
was not as it should be – Isaac Hernández might have been a technically secure Siegfried, but, alas, his Odile was on energy-saving mode, in both technical and interpretative terms.
Stina Quagebeur’s
Hollow
was an intriguing duet which seemed to deal with the agony of a baby lost to a young couple; Emily Suzuki and Victor Prigent were eloquent in their distress, yearning for, yet repulsed by each other. Quagebeur’s fluent expressivity shows a natural choreographic facility. The first movement of Ben Stevenson’s
Three Preludes
is far less spontaneous, demonstrating a level of contrivance as two dancers make a ballet barre central their pas de deux. However, given the innate artificiality of the art of classical dance, that is far less of a problem than it might seem. Cool and detached, it owns a lot to Jerome Robbins’s
Afternoon of a Faun
and offers plenty of opportunity to demonstrate line and placement; Emma Hawes and Junor Souza seized on every chance to show their mettle. Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s
Broken Wings
is a not-altogether successful exploration of the life and imagery of Frida Kahlo although its ‘Llorona’ duet is not without merit, especially when the artist herself is portrayed by Katja Khaniukova who convinces with her full-on interpretation and whole-hearted engagement with the choreography.
Three works were worth the price of admission in themselves:
Playlist (Track1,2)
,
Le Corsaire
and
Dust
. The first has been a total hit since its creation for the company in 2018 by none other than William Forsythe. It is firmly based in classical dance technique yet is utterly contemporary in tone; twelve men have a ball in a showcase of male dancing and the audience is sent out into the night with a real spring in its step. This performance was totally convincing and another welcome opportunity to see a work of contemporary ballet which emerges from a long tradition, rather than being a complete rejection of it.
The
Le Corsaire
pas de deux (here given as a trio, as per the company’s full-length production) is an old ballet warhorse, trotted out for galas and competitions, but here it felt new-minted and was a joyous display of bravura dancing. Shiori Kase displayed diamantine technique and a fine sense of rubato as Medora while Francesco Gabriele Frola as Ali pulled out every stop in a coruscating demonstration of virtuosity, every turn spin, leap and flick exultantly executed. Joseph Caley’s Conrad managed to combine a rollicking piratical swagger with his habitual elegant dancing.
Perhaps finest of all, the intense and moving final duet from Akram Khan’s
Dust
, created for the company in 2014 as part of their ‘Lest We Forget’ programme to mark the centenary of the First World War. A shell-shocked James Streeter inhabits his own world of torment while Erina Takahashi attempts to reach out, to comfort and to bring him back to reality and their own shattered relationship. The duet is moving in itself but both artists take it onto another plane of intensity and focus – Takahashi weaves her body around Streeter’s in quiet anguish and desperation. The soundscape comprising orchestral and electronic sound also features the repeated refrain ‘we’re here because we’re here’, sung by a Tommy in a 1916 recording – it carries incredible poignancy.
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