BRB's annual midscale tour started last Tuesday (29th April). The southern section started in Cheltenham before moving on to Poole.

The southern tour is a triple bill of Dante Sonata (Ashton), Small Worlds (Holder) and Elite Syncopations (McMillan).

One of the joys of these midscale tours is seeing different dancers get a chance in various works and the performances in Cheltenham and Poole were no exception.

Dante Sonata has a powerful anti-war theme and is as relevant today as it was when it was made in 1940. The theme is complex and shows that good does not always win out, with its (for me) ambivalent ending. Joseph Caley and Matthew Lawrence led the Children of Light in different performances and they brought contrasting portrayals to the role. Joseph Caley has a very young and innocent appearance and his solemnity in the role was very telling. Matthew Lawrence with his more mature appearance brought a real gravitas to the role. Of the ladies, Ambra Vallo gave us a luminous performance that had a real depth of emotion to it, leaving me with a real lump in my throat. Dominic Antonucci, Kosuke Yamamoto and Rory MacKay led the Children of Darkness - all were dramatic and evil. Carol-Anne Millar and Samara Downs also have a very dramatic presence. All the performances we saw made a tremendous impact in portraying the battle between good and evil. The work was danced to piano music only, rather than with the orchestra and I much prefer this. Jonathan Higgins was outstanding at all performances that we saw.

Kit Holder's Small Worlds is a work for three couples and was commissioned as part of BRB's Stravinsky season last year. The way the company has split meant that a number of new dancers were introduced to the roles. There is some stunning imagery and some beautiful choreography. I particularly like the duet and the trio. The solo has some dashing leaps. I'm not very eloquent in describing the movements but I am very taken with the lifts were the girls sit on the men's shoulders and then fall forward in an almost foetal position and I also like the recurring movement where the men raise the girls with their legs. We saw six couples who made up two casts with a third cast being a further mixture. They were all terrific.

And so to the crowd-pleasing conclusion of Elite Syncopations. Nao Sakuma and Dominic Antonnuci were dazzling together in the Bethena Concert Waltz. Both Sonia Aguilar/Richard Smith and Laura Purkiss/Chris Larsen were delightfully goofy in Golden Hours. We saw four Calliopes - the experienced Ambra Vallo and Carol-Anne Millar scintillated. We saw two debuts - Laetita Lo Sardo and Samara Downs. Samara especially brought the stripper/sex appeal out with her alluring portrayal. I enjoyed all the Friday Night's we saw (Joseph Caley, the irrepressible Aaron Robison and Rory MacKay). The highlight for me was Kosuke Yamamoto and Celine Gittens in the Alaskan Rag - they were priceless and Kosuke's performance throughout was a comedic masterpiece.

I thought this was a nicely balanced triple bill that shows off the talents of BRB to perfection.

Tales from the North next week!