There is not nearly enough modern dance and ballet outside of London. Here in the Midlands, we have the Birmingham Royal Ballet and then various touring companies that may come to Malvern, Wolverhampton, the Hippodrome in Birmingham or elsewhere. Unless you are on the various mailing lists or know where to look it is very easy to miss some significant events.
It was therefore very disappointing to go to see the Birmingham Royal Ballet at the Hippodrome, for their triple bill and find it all very tired and somewhat half hearted. We have seen Still Life at the Penguin Café at least twice before, and Apollo at least once, but we had enjoyed them and decided that it was worth going again. Knowing the work, however, illustrated just how lacklustre and lacking in vitality and crispness this performance was. In previous performances certain animals, or rather the dancers performing as the various animals in the Penguin Café, held the stage and projected energy and life. Something of that was missing for this performance. Having said that, however, the more recent piece, Interlinked, was excellent and very well danced.
It was a real pleasure, therefore, over the last weekend to go to Wolverhampton Grand Theatre to see BRB2, Carlos Acosta’s Classical Selection. This was a touring show that Acosta and the BRB had brought together featuring new, or newish, young dancers from the company in classic works, par de deux’s, solos and an ensemble work called Majisimo, with a decidedly Spanish feel. The dancers were brilliant, and the various short works allowed them to shine, showing off both their skills as dancers and their artistry and presence. It was all too short, of course, but an excellent showcase for the younger soloists within the company.
The dance that has stuck in my own memory, however, was a new work created by Acosta around the classic choreography of Michel Fokine’s Dying Swan. This was originally created, according to the programme, in 1907 for Anna Pavlova and was danced to the Swan from Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals (the company had brought a pianist and a cellist to provide some live music among other recorded accompaniments, which I thought was a great move). The original harks back to Swan Lake, of course, and also references Tennyson’s poem Le Cygne, and it is a very classic solo for a single female dancer in tutu and performed, as the programme tells me, ‘almost entirely of pas de bourées, a smooth running step performed entirely en pointe’. Around this, however, Acosta had woven a new dance, this time for a male dancer in white tights. The programme says nothing about this, apart from saying ‘for this performance Carlos Acosta has reimagined this iconic solo as a duet’. This second dance, however, in a very modern idiom, was also a death and the dancer moved across the stage in various stages of agony as he interacted with the dying swan, without ever touching her. The piece opened with the sound of wind blowing across the water and only gradually did the Saint-Saens emerge from the background noise. It was an incredibly powerful work and an example, that you see often in art galleries these days, but rarely in dance or other medium, of a classic work in dialogue with a brilliant modern choreographer creating something that is considerably more than the original.
I am not sure what this show would have cost to produce. A very significant amount I am sure, but also very significantly less than a full production with sets and full orchestra. It did, however, give the dancers a chance to get out, and for the company to reach a much wider audience.
The audience at the main event, the triple bill, was what I would I expect for Birmingham Royal Ballet at the Hippodrome, of a certain age and well healed. They were also loyal followers and whooped with pleasure at the end of each piece, including the Penguin Café which remains a crowd pleaser, even when it is not performed as perfectly and with as much pernach as it might be. The audience at the BRB2 show in Wolverhampton was, however, slightly different. It was still of a certain age (at 61 – this was my birthday treat – I still felt to be one of the youngest there) but it was more local, not quite as well healed as the crowd that went to Birmingham. They also loved it, and were generous in their applause and appreciation for the wonderful dancing on offer. The theatre was full (although the top tear, the Gods, was closed off) and I assume that the company played to full houses in other venues on the tour.
It is difficult to manage a ballet company, of course it is, and it is very expensive to stage and to tour, but the audiences are out there if the quality is high enough and the programme is well chosen. There should be more of it outside London, but we probably all know that already.
Martin Stringer Quartet 