The final night of three ballet gala programmes, each two days long, spread over three months—a new concept by former dancer (retired in 2022—he has not let the grass grow beneath his feet) Jamiel Devernay-Laurence, artistic director of Ballet Nights, launched last year.
He is also the tuxedo-suited compère, more relaxed presenting 003 than the first night of 001. He is a mine of information, making the evening a cosy, intimate soirée. The audience is only a few feet away.
But it's the programming, on which his concept and budding new career is based, that crowns his glory. The dancers, as usual in any gala, are top notch, be it in classical, neoclassical and contemporary (new and legacy) repertoire. Several are from English National Ballet.
Opening each half with a Chopin piece (resident pianist Viktor Erik Emanuel) is a cultural statement, though my companion complains of its over-amplification. It’s probably the fault of the barn-like space. Once Emanuel has taken us to a better place, calming our travelling stresses, the dance begins, the first half with ENB’s Ivana Bueno in Medora Variation ACT II of Le Corsaire, the second with her snappy tambourine Esmeralda Variation, often a competition piece, both amuse-bouches. She sails through with flying colours. Bueno will open ENB’s Nutcracker at the Coliseum on 14 December as Clara.
The halves end with ENB dancers again. Sanguen Lee and Gareth Haw (joining ENB this year from Dresden’s Semperoper Ballett, which new ENB artistic director Aaron S Watkins ran for seventeen years) are breathtakingly outstanding in a duet from William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated. Created for Paris Opera Ballet in 1987, Lee’s long limbs and precision take me back to Sylvie Guillem.
The evening is worth the entry ticket for that close-up glimpse of spectacular timing to Thom Willems and Leslie Stuck’s spiky electronic score, the hyper-articulated bodies in total command. Devernay-Laurence must be patting himself on the back for acquiring the rights to that.
The second half ends on a classical high, the Don Quixote Suite, a staple of the gala circuit with all its party tricks, high cabrioles, fleet bourrées, snappy retirés, fouettés, and stunning manèges, performed by ENB’s Katja Khaniukova & Aitor Arrieta Coca. The audience is on its feet. A hot number to send us out into the cold night...
Three Marius Petipa Imperial Ballet numbers bookend (with the Forsyth), or rather enfold, a rich filling of contemporary pieces, three in the first half, two in the second, each one delicious in its own way in a delightful high table tasting menu.
324a (apparently choreographer Joshua Junker’s address at the time of lockdown—our compère proves his worth with his winning anecdotes) is performed by Felicity Chadwick to Bach (live piano makes a difference, live music always does). Lovely arms, lovely phrasing, body soft and grounded.
Followed by Robert Cohan’s Wind, they make for suitable companions. Laurel Dalley Smith of Yorke Dance Project, in blue costume by Cohan, sails across the wide floor in silence but for the sound of feet and breathing. Martha Graham is usually visible in Cohan’s work, and here the full skirt, which blows in the wind of movement, brings her (and Cohan) alive for me.
Jordan James Bridge’s Heisei 9, inspired by video games, has Constance Devernay-Laurence, in sleek femme fatale purple devoré body by Stevie Stewart, dazzle with her pointe work and flexibility—as she did in Scottish Ballet’s Coppélia. She seems to be in complete synchronisation with Nobuo Uematsu’s score, a duet in essence with our evening’s go-to pianist. It flashes by.
The second half’s two contemporary pieces are more emotional and personal. UTOPIA (The Way Inside), choreographed and performed by former Acosta Danza member Yasser D’Oquendo, speaks of heartbreak. He has left Cuba to make a better future life for his daughter, whom he has left behind. Her voice mingles with music by Glen Morrison, Martin Bloch and Joao Del Monte.
Cuba is broken: D’Oquendo is seeking utopia, a better place, he will not be going back. His body speaks of anguish: contorts, falls, is tossed and turned by tides of passion and intent. The life of an immigrant, but, releasing his tied back dreads, he feels free.
Proximity, choreographed and performed by James Pett and Travis Clausen-Knight to Albenese, seems to be a sensitive love story, of memory and loss—hands hold empty space. The men in identical white suits and black T-shirts could be twins or lovers, so connected are they, joined at the elbow my notes say. Or mirror images.
Coming out of Random Dance, Wayne McGregor’s original company—as has Jordan James Bridge—they have moved on considerably. This piece was first shown in Melbourne in 2018. Devernay-Laurence says he hopes to have them back next time. Next time will be February 2024 if all goes well.