Maggie Foyer is at the London Palladium
May 17, 2016
It was a crowd pleaser evening. Natasha Kaplinsky hosted the event and did her best to make it feel like Strictly Come Dancing and, if you follow English National Ballet, you had probably already picked the winner. Yes, it was Cuban wunderkind, Cesar Corrales, and he didn’t disappoint. As Acteon, he probably broke all records for the amount of virtuoso aerobatics executed in one solo. Unsurprisingly he won both the Emerging Dancer Award and the People’s Choice Award. This young man can deliver!
However, there is more to him than tricks. In his contemporary solo, Contrabajo para hombre choreographed by Julio Lopez, he proved a stylish mover with a Bob Fosse profile. Rina Kanehara, a warm and generous performer, proved a worthy partner in the Diana and Acteon Pas de Deux, no mean feat for the youngest dancer in the company. For her alternate solo, she danced the intriguing ‘Black Swan’ from Jean-Christophe Maillot’s version of the ballet.
The contemporary solos were mostly in the neo-classical mould with only Daniele Silingardi going for a different style in John Neumeier’s Spring and Fall. This is not an easy solo to pull off in the competitive atmosphere but he gave it the depth and intensity it needed. While there were some interesting solos in this section, notable two from Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, I would have liked to see the dancers show more contrast in coordination and release in their bodies.
Photo Laurent Liotardo
Unsurprisingly the opening pas de deux revealed the tension and nerves these young dancers endure, and Talisman danced by Isabelle Brouwers and Erik Woolhouse, with its pallid, sentimental music does not help to glue one’s courage to the sticking place. The Black Swan pas de deux was crowned by Jeanette Kakareka’s exquisite classical line ably partnered by Silingardi.
All the dancers showed tremendous potential and, as director Tamara Rojo said, they were all winners but competition strain sapped both expressive quality and stamina. Competitions have their place; dancers forged in the fire, as Corrales has been, sharpens the steel which will pay off in future performances but there were moments when my heart went out to the young dancers facing a full house at the Palladium and trying to prove what we already knew they could do.
The contrast was very obvious as previous year’s finalists and winners took to the stage while the judges deliberated. Free from additional pressures they danced with warmth and joy. Laurretta Summerscales and Max Westall made an ardent couple in the balcony pas from Nureyev’s Romeo and Juliet. It is a spirited duet full of wild young passion and Summerscales’ Juliet, bursting with emotion, was a joy to watch. Shiori Kase and Jinhao Zhang seemed delighted to dance the pas d’esclave Le Corsaire, and he must take the prize for the softest and quietest pliés of the evening.
A new award for the Corps de Ballet dancer who has gone above and beyond the call of duty, was won by a surprised and delighted Jennie Harrington to great applause.