A night of the best in ballet: Ballet Icons Gala

London Coliseum
March 17, 2024

Victor Gsovsky’s Grand Pas Classique got this year’s Ballet Icons gala off to a good start with Fumi Kaneko and Vadim Muntagirov delivering a coolly classical rendering of this 1949 piece that pays tribute to an imperial past. Both handled the technical challenges with aplomb and definitely left us wanting more.

Like Water for Chocolate is Christopher Wheeldon’s version of the popular film. Francesca Hayward and Herman Cornejo executed the longing pas de deux of forbidden love à la House of Bernada Alba to gorgeous music by Joby Talbot, scored for, amongst others, woodwind and ocarinas. The music builds to a romantic climax at which point, Wheeldon inexplicably directs his male dancer to turn his lover upside down and hold her there just at the point where one might reasonably expect a one-hand lift as an example. It is a jarring moment in an otherwise rather lovely excerpt.

Esmerelda has been getting more of a look in recently and London should rightly own it as it was premièred here in 1844. António Casalinho partnered admirably although his Esmerelda, Margarita Fernandes, seemed a little timid and not at all keen on her tambourine. She rattled it gingerly and, rather than giving it a spirited kicking, held her extension and tapped her foot which undercut any of the excitement.

Danced by Riho Sakamoto and Constantine Allen, Hans van Manen’s Two Pieces for HET was a real treat. The first piece is rather frenetic but is more than made up for by the second adagio which is glorious, and was gloriously danced. Subtle intertwining and deep eye contact drew the audience in.

Sergio Bernal has choreographed a trilogy based on Rodin’s sculptures and here he gave us The Thinker. It was the most stunning piece of the whole gala with a mix of orchestral accompaniment and the fabulous guitarist Daniel Jurado onstage playing music by Roque Baños López. Bernal has an astonishingly strong port de bras, well supported in the back but as lithe as a panther. His use of zapateado was the one flaw in the work as the upright posture required for ballet negates the opposite technique that gives the footwork its power. Banal’s Thinker is a tortured soul, breaking out of his famous pose only to sink back. Let’s hope that we get the opportunity to see the whole work soon.

Sébastien Bertaud’s Renaissance is a somewhat bland work. Danced by Bleuenn Battistoni and Julian Mackay, it was memorable mostly for Felix Mendelssohn’s music.

James Pett and Travis Clausen-Knight of Pett|Clausen-Knight picked up the pace with their ‘Mercy Duet’ from IMAGO which simply gets better with every viewing. It fits them like a glove and they handle its tensions and intimacies with grace and apparent ease.

Evelina Godunova and Motomi Kiyota brought us to the interval with the old warhorse and gala favourite Le Corsaire. They gave it their all, sending the whole audience into the break eagerly anticipating more.

In a change to the advertised running order, Ermanno Sbezzo’s Proximity or Closeness opened the second half with onstage musicians playing Alfred Schnittker’s arrangement of Gustav Mahler’s Quartet for Piano and Strings in A minor. Again Sergio Bernal provided a lot to live up to, helped by the also excellent Eleonora Abbagnato. It is an athletic pas de deux danced seamlessly with feeling. The black costumes are dramatic, Abbagnato’s being especially flattering, but however well cut Bernal’s jacket, it would have looked better paired with a shirt.

Wayne McGregor’s Qualia with it’s over-loud electronic score was a shock to the system and provided little in the way of choreographic interest, despite the efforts of Yasmine Naghdi and Reece Clarke. It serves up a bland athleticism stripped of emotion, or perhaps it just doesn’t cross the footlights.

Skylar Brandt and Herman Cornejo brought us back to the familiar with the Black Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake. Brandt in particular gave a particularly subtle rendition and concentrated as much on communicating her character as demonstrating the fireworks, not easy in any pas de deux taken out of context. An extra little flick of the hands showed that she was totally in control of her Siegfried and it would be good to the see her in the full work.

There was no guidance as to exactly how a pas de deux from Mauro Bigonzetti’s Caravaggio fits into the full work danced. Danced by Melissa Hamilton and Roberto Bolle, in all honesty, it could have been about any pair. It certainly didn’t bring to mind the pugnacious, hot tempered artist, although the dancers were not helped by ugly costumes/

Matthew Golding and Lucia Lacarra followed with the UK première of Golding’s Remembrance (Lost Letters). It’s pleasant but also clichéd. The projection of a poppy field, a red scarf and dress – we’ve seen it all before.

Taming of the Shrew is a problematic play even without today’s ultra-sensitive climate. Camila Bocco and Osiel Gouneo pulled it off a pas de deux from John Cranko’s ballet by emphasising the humour, but, at the end of the day, taking it out of an already difficult context taints it with the suggestion of domestic abuse. It’s a pity that we see so little of Cranko’s work. Perhaps Onegin would have been a better bet.

The pas de deux from George Balanchine’s Diamonds (from Jewels) sparkled next. As with the opening pas de deux, it was superbly cool and classical. Olga Smirnova and Vadim Muntagirov were quietly spectacular.

William Forsythe’s In The Middle Somewhat Elevated is now a contemporary classic. It’s hard to believe that it will soon be celebrating it’s fortieth birthday. Sanguen Lee and Gareth Haw could have given it rather more attack, though. Like Balanchine, it should feel dangerous. Not over-extensions for their own sake, but antagonistically so. This was Forsythe with all the stops in.

Not so with Don Quixote though. Natalia Osipova and Georgi Potskhishvili set the stage alight: she with ridiculously fast and accurate double fouettés and he by adding bells and whistles to tours à la second, throwing in temps levés on his supporting leg before setting of for the next rotation.

On a day when Russia seems to have sunk to a new low, it was important to be reminded that love of Russian culture and people must be kept alive in these dark days.

As ever the English National Ballet Philharmonic were supporting the dancers, the evening conducted by heir apparent to the much missed Gavin Sutherland, Maria Seletskaya. She is one of a growing number of poachers turned gamekeepers in that she was a professional dancer. This is a welcome addition to the world’s orchestra pits and ballet companies but it was amusing to note that she seemed to be embodying the dancers’ movements with a broad and robust style. The orchestra sounded a little unbalanced in places with some rather blasting sounds from the brass and accompanying flutes overwhelming the melodies at times. It will be interesting to see how Seletskaya settles in over the coming months.