I’ve seen a lot of ballets in my time. Dancing since the age of 2 and having a mother who runs a dance school meant I would always be up for seeing the ballet that came to town. So I was particularly looking forward to this performance. I’ve never seen Birmingham Royal Ballet before, but I just assumed it would be a standard classical ballet.
How wrong was I? First it was four small ballets were broken up with two 20 minute intervals. Plenty of time to chat with the nice family next to me. It was classical ballet but with quite a large contemporary twist. Lots of parallel feet and jumps which heavily contrasted with arabesques and quick chaines turns.
The four ballets ranged from strong Scottish themed ballet, to a interpretive piece with white lycra jumpsuits, not forgetting a sexy, sultry, tango-style section. Each showed another side of the dancers and the dynamics between them.
The choreography; again different. The moves fitted perfectly to the rhythm and phrases in the music, which was extremely satisfying to watch. The jarred modern movements mixed with the classical style was something I’ve never experienced. The moves as a whole were simple yet the combinations, much more complex.
There were a few minor wobbles with dévéloppes (glad I’m not the only one who finds those hard)… but other than that each dancer was as strong as the next. The principal dancers literally took my breath away at points, particularly at the triple pirouettes and nimble entrechat, with their strength and control. Two themes that I noticed were strongly prominent through the whole of the piece.
And if all that isn’t good enough then I tell you nothing beats attractive male dancers after a long day.
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