Ballett Zürich: Countertime

Opera House, Zürich
September 7, 2025

Ballett Zürich started their new season with a revival of Countertime, a well-balanced triple bill of a MacMillan classic, a European premiere from director, Cathy Marston, and a brand new commission from Bryan Arias.

Concerto is a winner. Kenneth MacMillan’s choreography (1967) and Dmitri Shostakovitch’s music (1957) retain their freshness despite their pensionable ages. The contrast in both, between cheeky exuberance in the first and third movements and the profound beauty of the second make it a work for all time.

Nancy Osbaldeston and Charles-Louis Yoshiyama, crisp and clean, zapped through the opening movement of ballet steps knitted into intricate combinations with epaulement that switched at breakneck speed. Ostbaldeston had both the authority and the ease while Yoshiyama was not quite so confident but nevertheless maintained the pace.

The second movement is the crown jewel, and Max Richter absorbed the emotion fully in melting torso and arms. With strong support from Joel Woellner she captured all the iconic shapes, in textbook positions. The sextet of coryphées who shadow their moves were exceptional in each entrance, rehearsed with precision and musicality.

The final movement was introduced by Ayaha Tsunaki who used her formidable technique to extract the full flavour of the music, holding and shaping each movement to perfection. The full ensemble return to the stage to take the work to a joyous climax.

Mrs Robinson was a smart choice for Cathy Marston. Taking its title from the seductive titular older woman, it follows the story of the hit film The Graduate and offers several fine roles. Lucas van Rensburg, from the Junior Ballet, was well cast as Benjamin, his scarily thin veneer of sophistication covering a stack of insecurity. Set in the late ‘60s as the youthful counterculture upends society, he feels alienated refusing to make the same life choices as his father and searching for alternatives. He is ripe prey for the older woman, and the couple enjoy duets which combine goofy humour with erotic intent.

However, in the work, premiered with San Francisco Ballet in 2022, Marston swings the spotlight onto Mrs Robinson who also needs to find a new pathway after her actions have destroyed her comfortable and boring suburban life. Yun-Su Park, in the lead role showed a fighting spirit and Patrick Kinmonth’s set supports her decision as the green hedge which traverses the stage in the opening now features a little white gate which Park unlatches as she walks off into her new life.

Mrs Robinson is a well-crafted piece, set to an evocative score from Terry Davies, with plenty of dance for the ensemble of middle-class suburbia.

Colorful Darkness is bright, brass and definitely full of colour. Bregje van Balen’s fantasy costumes that flash with jewel-like intensity make sure of that. The extravagant headdresses and robes are a flashback to Bryan Arias’ childhood memories of carnivals in his native Puerto Rico as is the choreography, spiced with fluid movement and rhythms of Latin America. His choice of Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story brought the talents of the Philharmonia Zürich to the forefront. It is brilliantly scored, prizing the dance rhythms over the romantic melodies and offering a vibrant soundscape of multiethnic New York.   

The strength of the work is in the duets and trios where individual dancers found opportunities to shine, notably Shelby Williams with Jorge García Pérez, Caroline Perry with Esteban Berlanga and Daniela Gómez Pérez dancing with Mlindi Kulashe. It proved an excellent finale to a performance that also offered fine orchestral playing under the baton of Jonathan Lo.