Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London
April 23, 2025
To the music of Ravel, the Southbank Centre’s Multitudes Festival opened with a startlingly super evening that paired a hands-down all-time ravishing performance of Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé and La Valse by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with ain impressive show of acrobatic ballet by Australian contemporary circus artists, Circa.
That the Circa performers pulled-off so well their stunning display was all the more remarkable given they were allocated a narrow strip of stage, in what would, fifty years ago, have been the footlights, directly in front of the orchestra; and a high ledge above and behind it. To give a performance of the quality and complexity achieved, in space that was wholly inadequate, from a performance and visual perspective, was pretty impressive.
Photo Pete Woodhead
The Festival Hall was full to capacity, and a couple of wobbles at the start, can probably be attributed to nerves. However, they soon settled, and the performances got stronger and stronger as the London Philharmonic played its way through the two Ravel scores.
Having started in 2004 in Brisbane, Circa has since toured to over 45 countries, performing in front of two million people. That’s seriously impressive. As was that their Festival Hall eclectic display of acro and aerial dance gymnastics was performed on mats, each other, poles, high wires, ropes and drapery, without any safety harnesses. The choreography by Yaron Lifschitz is inspired, rhythmic, balletic, fully aligned with the music, and mesmerising. But I don’ think you would call it ‘pushing the boundaries’ as the publicity claimed.
Photo Pete Woodhead
There were plenty of wow moments, but the (unnamed) acro-dancer performing with the drapery was outstanding. There were also things that didn’t work, like Libby McDonnell’s rather unbecoming costumes. They were also black, which meant the circus/dance performers merged into the front row of the musicians. It was a critical error. With the entire ensemble, orchestra and dancers, in black, the occasion seemed very sombre, instead of the riot of love and death it should have been. What a shame they were not in the bright colours of twizzlers and whorlers.
The London Philharmonic, conducted by Edward Gardner, the other half of this performance, were superb. Ravel is not one of my favourite composers, with the exception of Boléro of course! Yet, under Gardener’s baton, the musicians, ably supported by the BBC Singers, wove a musical web around the Circa performers, which I found myself actively listening to.
The evening was a world premiere but I feel sure it will be in Circa’s repertoire for a long time to come.