Ballet Icons 20th Anniversary Gala

London Coliseum
February 15, 2026

A firm fixture in London’s ballet calendar and always and much looked forward, this year’s 20th anniversary Ballet Icons Gala got off to a flying start with Iana Salenko and Daniil Simkin in a flawless and exciting interpretation of the old warhorse that is Le Corsaire.

Like all the 19th-century classics, it comes with a weight of extremely distinguished interpretations behind it so it is quite something when dancers can put their own stamp on it. Salenko and Simkin certainly did that and, if Ballet Icons gave out costume awards, the designer of Salenko’s tutu would surely take the prize. A stunning royal blue and silver costume with a plate in appropriate period style, relatively long, sitting vertically with lots of underlying tulle. It was to die for.

Officially, Edward Watson retired five years ago but here he proves that he has lost none of his technique or charisma in the UK première of Antonia Franceschi’s Asylum. Watson fairly rippled through the solo, the power and strength of the movement sustained smoothly through Ezio Bosso’s relatively slow music.

According to the programme notes, it supposedly “explores the ritual and tribal connections to nature that have long danced alongside indigenous wildlife, seeking otherness and altered states.” Well, you won’t find that explanation in any zoology textbook! That said, it is perfectly easy to enjoy this work for its own sake without knowing a thing about what it purports to depict.

How delightful to see Asif Messerer’s timeless Spring Waters again, here danced by Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Reece Clarke. It used to be a very popular exhibition piece, its 70th anniversary now behind it, providing ideal material for galas, but it has rather fallen out of fashion of late. It is exciting without straying into vulgarity and a perfect example of the Bolshoi style. Like the spring waters that it depicts, it effervesces but all too soon sparkles into ephemeral non-existence.

After the emotional fireworks of Rachmaninov, the strains of Vivaldi brought us back to the calmly cerebral in Finding Light, a pas de deux by Edwaard Liang. Lucía Lacarra almost seemed to bend in half and she flexed around the solid support provided by her partner, Matthew Golding.

Unlike Messerer’s choreography, Agrippa Vaganova and Vakhtang Chabuliani’s Diana and Actaeon is showing its age. Danced by Madeline Woo and Francesco Gabriele Frola, it was the least successful of the pas de deux presented. It bears no resemblance to Ovid’s version of the myth as here the pair are lovers. Diana doesn’t seem to be that focused on her amorata though as she frequently lets loose an arrow from her (imaginary) bow in spite of not having an obvious target. I shot an arrow in the air, it fell to earth in Berkeley Square perhaps. This dyad seemed the least secure in their partnership, both looking rather strained in the face. Perhaps they were aware of their usual fate after all.

Sarah Chun danced in the first world première of the evening, Mthuthuzeli November’s Uhuru. Famously the Swahili word for freedom or independence, it presumably depicted the same. All jerks and twists, it was not one that would stay in the memory and was not helped by the overly loud projection of Alex Wilson’s electronic score.

The pas de deux from Angelin Preljocaj’s Le Parc provided the needed soothing balm, assisted by Mozart. Eleonora Abbagnato and Paul Marque were terrific in this sinuous piece. There’s even something appealing about the way the woman flicks her loose hair away from her face, something done several times and incorporated seamlessly into the choreography.

A glorious work, the highlight is undoubtedly the moment when, face to face, Abbagnato raised her arms from a Cecchetti first position, through demi-second and second to then wrap them round Marque’s neck. He then, used his weight to lift her briefly vertical and then whirl her round until she is almost horizontal, all the while balanced on his chest. It got deserved long and loud applause from the appreciative audience.

Abbagnato and Marque were a hard act to follow, but Fumi Kaneko and Vadim Muntagirov achieved it in grand style with Black Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake. It was, quite simply, one of the best examples of it that I have ever seen.

The chemistry between them aptly demonstrated their just married status. Quite a honeymoon. Muntagirov still looks as if he is 20, albeit with a maturity of presentation that makes him now a true danseur noble. Equally, the term ‘ballerina’ is frequently bandied around as if it merely meant a female dancer, but Kaneko embodies the true ballerina status, seemingly knocking off the demanding technique without a care in the world whilst simultaneously acting her socks off.

Muntagirov himself is no slouch of an actor, perhaps because the major classical companies in Russia thankfully teach Stanislavski technique. There were delightful touches with dodged kisses as Kaneko slid her hand away, one moment coy, the next flashing fire. They even found time to look lovingly into each other’s eyes, this Siegfried every inch the besotted boy strung along by the duplicitous vamp. The only regret is that there was no opportunity to see them in a corresponding White Swan pas de deux.

More Tchaikovsky opened the second half (following the cancellation of Jason Kittelberger’s Gravity’s Orphan) with Margarita Fernandes and António Cashalino dancing George Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux with aplomb.

The music was originally composed for Swan Lake but not used and it reminded unknown until it surfaced in archives in Klin, north west of Moscow in 1953. Balanchine created his choreography seven years later for New York City Ballet in his cool, St Petersburg style.

James Pett and Travis Clausen-Knight gave us the second world première of the evening with their duet Postscript, danced to Vivaldi.

This duo never disappoint, never allowing abstraction to dwindle into nothingness as so often occurs. Postscript is an elegiac work that constantly diverts the eyes with changes of weight, mixed levels and obvious rapport between the dancer/choreographers.

Maia Makhateli and Young Gyu Choi perhaps drew the short straw in the rather dull pas de deux from Raymonda. Like many 19th-century ballets, it has a rather silly plot and does not represent the mighty Glazunov at his best, although the Liszt-ian Grand Pas Classique Hongrois is the possibly exception. Makhateli could have perhaps invested it with a little more élan.

Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko danced finely in Jean-Christophe Maillot’s version of the Grand pas de deux from his Casse-Noisette Compagnie, his take on The Nutcracker. The choreography is rather lovely too, except that it doesn’t sit very comfortably with Tchaikovsky’s score.

The familiar, traditional Nutcracker pas de deux is the grandest of all Petipa’s creations, one of the most beautiful and heart-rending in a canon that is teeming with such examples. Petipa demanded a ‘colossal effect’ which the andante maestro that was Tchaikovsky delivered in spades and so did Ivanov in creating the choreography. This just didn’t scale the same heights. The duet would also have benefitted from not having bland, beige costumes.

I will admit to usually struggling with Wayne McGregor’s choreography but the brief pas de deux from Chroma, danced by Sae Maeda and Marcelino Sambé, is the exception that proves the rule. Now twenty years old, it is undoubtedly lyrical. Joby Talbot’s and Jack White’s score is nothing to write home about, and brevity in this instance proved advantageous. The minimal costumes left a lot to be desired though, and flattered neither dancer.

No Ballet Icons gala would now be complete without the Don Quixote pas de deux as a finale and this anniversary year was no exception. The honour fell to Marianela Nuñez and Patricio Revé, aptly framed by variations danced by Chloe Keneally and Anna Nevzorova.

It is hard to believe that two decades have elapsed since the first Ballet Icons gala. Indeed, they have run out of ‘icons’! This year it was all the more enjoyable in a relative desert of visiting companies. Somewhat more classical than previous years, the standard of dancing was sans pareil. Just what the doctor ordered on yet another soggy evening in a troubled world.

Read SeeingDance editor David Mead in conversation with Ballet Icons Gala founder and director Olga Balakleets.