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The Friends of Covent Garden has been running for 60 years, supporting the opera and ballet companies by sponsoring new productions and engaging audiences through open rehearsals, talks and other initiatives. So a programme showcasing the wide range of the Royal Ballet’s work – live-screened at cinemas around the world – is to be praised.
The opening night was a mixed bag of both old and new ballets, with some world premieres thrown in. It began with the Fanny Elssler pas de deux from Ashton’s La Fille Mal Gardee. It was neatly danced by Anna Rose O’Sullivan (she has something of the young Lesley Collier about her) and Alexander Campbell. MacMillan’s Act I pas de deux from Manon followed but taken out of context it did not really work and Akane Takada and Calvin Richardson failed to generate much passion.
Wayne McGregor’s Qualia was next: Melissa Hamilton’s hyper-extended body has an extraordinary sculptural beauty and Lukas Bjorneboe Braendsrod partnered well, but the music, by Scanner, was repetitive and did not enthrall.
Next up was one of the hits of the night, For Four by Christopher Wheeldon. Displaying the technical excellence of four of the company’s top male dancers, the piece was sharp, clever and full of joyful dance moves. All four men were in good form, but Matthew Ball and Marcelino Sambe stood out.
See Us!! was Joseph Toonga’s first work for the main stage at the Opera House, using hip-hop choreography to look at how bodies can be tools of protest and activism – well, that’s what it said in the programme. I’ve watched bodies protesting when they have glued themselves to roads or climbed motorway gantries, and this left me, I’m afraid, just as unimpressed.
Pam Tanowitz’s Dispatch Duet showed us O’Sullivan again, this time teamed with William Bracewell in a piece on the processes of creating dance. There were some interesting moves but it failed to light up the stage.
Concerto Pour Deux, on the other hand, was a beautifully constructed work for Natalia Osipova and Steven McRae by Benoit Swan Pouffer. It displayed their wonderful lyricism together and showed that McRae has so much more to offer than virtuoso leaps and jumps.
Prima, by Valentino Zucchetti was another highlight. To music by Saint-Saens, it showed off the skills of four of the company’s ballerinas: Francesca Hayward, Fumi Kaneko, Mayara Magri and Yasmine Naghdi. Dressed in wonderful costumes by top designer Roksanda Ilincic – all colourful, floaty dresses – the piece reinforced the fact that Zucchetti is an exciting and welcome newcomer on the choreographic scene. This work deserves to be shown as a companion piece to For Four – what a wealth of talent the Royal Ballet has at present.
Fumi Kaneko in Prima by Valentino Zucchetti (Photo: Andrej Uspenski)
The performance concluded with, appropriately, Balanchine’s Diamonds from his ballet Jewels. With a beautifully serene Marianela Nunez and the commanding presence of Reece Clarke, it brought the evening to a sparking conclusion.
The Royal Ballet: A Diamond Celebration is at the Royal Opera House until 19 November and there will be future cinema screenings.
