The title stands for itself, but what it doesn't have is that several of the choreographers are dancers themselves stretching their choreographic muscles. As in the host company’s—the Royal Ballet—two pieces, one by soloist Ashley Dean and the other by principal Marcelino Sambé. Needless to say, performances are very good all round.
Overall lighting is by Zeynep Kepekli, be it pools of light to provide the drama, to differentiate, to focus our eyes, but the choice of music and concept is where the original ideas lie; inevitably, many concentrate on love, its pain and genesis.
It’s a relief to encounter a tongue-in cheek ballet from Birmingham Royal Ballet in the second half, Capriccio, inspired by René Magritte’s The Lovers, faces draped in cloth. Experienced choreographer and former dancer, now artistic coordinator, Kit Holder has created one of the standout pieces of the evening.
Outstandingly performed by agile Acosta Danza dancers Alexander Arias and Paul Brando, Magritte is made dynamic. Holder has chosen Joseph-Marie-Clément Dall'Abaco’s fabulous Capriccio 1 in C minor cello concerto with a smattering of French verse from Édouard Léon Théodore Mesens (a friend of Magritte). Now that is research.
Two male lovers, like conjoined twins, twist and turn under their unifying anonymous shield of cloth until they break away and assert their own personalities in solos under individual spotlights, yet always somehow in communion. It ends with the smaller toting Magritte’s bowler hat.
The other two that make an impression come at the beginning. Dutch National Ballet’s Lars De Vos’s short martial arts and hip hop influenced (music by Jurre Hofman, aka Too Martian) Burden duet for two men in black, one taller and younger, yet it’s he that gets laid out. Both Herrold Anakotta and Soshi Suzuki are brilliant. Has Anakotta killed the thing he loves?
Swiftly followed by Northern Ballet’s Sky Above, Voices Within, another exciting number that elevates dancing for all. Leading soloist Kevin Poeung and Ability (Northern Ballet’s “dance course for adults with learning disabilities”) dancer Ruben Reuter, dressed in black-look martial arts, but it's a gentle piece, Peoung never letting go of eye contact, Reuter keenly concentrating.
Choreographed by company dancer George Liang to music by Zhouhan Du, from which it takes its title, I have FAB in capitals in my notes. Their notes say it was “originally created for Sketches in 2024, it “explores movement and unity”... it certainly does that. Contact work is excellent.
Joburg Ballet’s Mpho (meaning gift), to percussive music by Peter Mpho Mothiba, also performing on stage, supports three women under a hot red sun. Choreographed by Tumelo Lekana, this “multi-disciplinary work” is inspired by Africa’s heritage as seen through a “classical European lens”. It’s a long piece.
Women (Daria D'Orazio, Savannah Jacobson, Latoya Mokoena) on pointe, in African dress and wielding flywhisks, go about their daily business. Apparently, it’s a woman’s journey, aided by two spiritual mentors. What I take away is its soundscape and the women’s syncopated clapping, a bit like flamenco’s palmas.
The rest is pretty much about couples. Stuttgart Ballet brings Heartquake, choreographed by Emanuele Babici to Rachmaninoff’s romantic Etudes 33 and 35 (in minor key). A classical love triangle, elegantly danced by Yana Peneva, Abigail Willson-Heisel, Serhii Zharikov, it is softly melodramatic, but there is reconciliation at the end.
The Royal Ballet follows with Dean’s In Absence. Music is by Vicenzo Lamagna and Henryk Górecki (his Miserere nobis—Lento, tranquilissino, cantabilissimo, dolcissimo—says it all). Light streams from a high cathedral window (so to speak) and stories form in several chapters. Madison Bailey, Liam Boswell, Ashley Dean, Benjamin Ella, Harry Churches, Francisco Serrano are suitably subdued.
More chapters from Norwegian Ballet’s Pages—of a book, of a life? Dancers Nora Augustinius (sings too, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea) and Josh Nagaoka (wonderful dancer) emote in Cina Espejord’s choreography to Anton Arensky’s Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky. Need I say more…
The last, Sambé’s, about the original Biblical couple, Almost Human, is epic, ambitious, the birth of 'mankind' no less. Lilith, Eve, Adam and the apple, not to mention some serpentine slithering—does Adam even stand a chance, though Lukas Bjørneboe Brændsrød could easily be stand-in for Tarzan with his tall physique and muscular dancing. Duets are brilliant.
Rebecca Myles Stewart and Viola Pantuso, on pointe, tease, appease and give him a right runaround. A narrative ballet with marvellous eclectic soundscape, woven from music by Hayden, Schoenberg, FKA Twigs and Graznya Bacewicz, it has something of Wayne McGregor and Frankenstein about it.