This year sees the Royal Ballet School celebrate its centenary. It was founded by the formidable Dame Ninette de Valois in 1926, who recognised the need for a national ballet company with home-grown dancers and its own feeder school. The Academy of Choreographic Art, as it was then called, trained a small number of students in classical ballet, turning them into professional dancers and these dancers became the original members of the Vic-Wells Ballet – the predecessor of today’s Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet companies.
These two companies have the pick of graduates from the school, and today former students can be found in companies all around the world. The school has an impressive international reputation, training dancers in what has become the typical English style: beautiful use of the upper body, precise footwork and above all, the ability to combine excellent classical technique with fine acting. Israel’s own classical ballet company is led by Claire Bayliss Nagar, who had her early training at the Royal Ballet School.
The Royal Ballet’s autumn season at the Royal Opera House has kicked off with a short series of gala performances paying tribute to the work of the school, with dancers from both the Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet on stage alongside current students. The programme showed the versatility of today’s dancers, tackling classics alongside more modern works.
The gala opened with a suite from the rarely-seen Checkmate – choreographed by Ninette de Valois – using students alongside company dancers. It was followed by Birthday Offering, Frederick Ashton’s sparkling showpiece designed to display the talents of seven principal couples. At the performance I saw, Marianela Nunez danced with serene grandeur but I particularly enjoyed the solos by Anna Rose O’Sullivan with her quick footwork and Yasmine Naghdi, who brought a wonderful melting quality to her variation.
Standout performances on the night included Lauren Cuthbertson and Lukas B. Braendsrod in the world premiere of Beautiful Shadow, a lyrical pas de deux by Christopher Wheeldon, with lovely costumes by Erdem Moralioglu. Less successful was another premiere, Cathy Marston’s Night
Falling. I felt the presence of a tenor on stage alongside two male dancers distracted somewhat from the piece.
It was wonderful to see the Southern Cape Zebra dance from David Bintley’s ‘Still Life’ at the Penguin Café – how I wish this ballet would appear more frequently, with its quirky movements and stunning designs!
There were a couple of pieces which are standard gala fare: the Black Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake and the Bedroom pas de deux from Manon, but I always feel that, taken out of context, they lose something of the drama, even though the dancing is exquisite.
The evening closed with students from the school sharing the stage with dancers from both companies in a glittering finale, choreographed by Valentino Zucchetti. I hope Dame Ninette was looking down from above, justly proud at the legacy she has left to the world of ballet.
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