Concerto

In 1966, Kenneth Macmillan left the Royal Ballet to become Director of the Berlin ballet, and 'Concerto' was the first piece he made for his new company. It was revived first by ABT and later by both the Royal Ballet companies. The concerto in question is the second Piano Concerto by Shostakovich, and Macmillan made a plotless ballet which takes its mood from the music. The simple designs are by Jurgen Rose, probably best known for his work in Stuttgart with John Cranko.

The heart of the ballet is the slow second movement, consisting almost entirely of a pas de deux. Macmillan is said to have been inspired to create it by watching Lynn Seymour at work in class, and that inspiration is clear to see: after the famous opening, where the two dancers walk slowly out of opposite wings, to meet centre stage, the man acts almost as a barre-substitute while the woman stretches and bends. Seymour created the role in Berlin, and many RB dancers have followed her successfully - Alfreda Thorogood and Briony Brind come to mind especially.

The two outer movements are much more cheerful and extrovert. A man and a woman in the first movement, and a woman in the third, have the soloist roles - mainly but not always dancing with the piano part. The weakest aspect is the work for the corps de ballet - never Macmillan's strongest suit - which gets rather twee at one or two moments. It's a good ballet to show off the dancers, though, and more than worth seeing for the second movement.

Raymonda Act lll

'Raymonda' has rather a strange history in the Royal Ballet. A full length production was mounted for the touring company in 1964 by Rudolph Nureyev, based on his memory of Petipa's choreography from his Kirov days, and eked out with his own work to fill the gaps. The first performances were in Italy, at the Spoleto Festival, and the original decor turned out to be so unsuitable that the production was never shown in England. Instead, Nureyev remounted the last act only , first for the touring company and later at Covent Garden, with entirely new scenery and costumes by Barry Kay.

Fortunately, by the time Act lll comes around, the story of 'Raymonda' has become irrelevant and all that matters is the dancing. (Otherwise you would need to take in a plot involving attempted kidnaps, Saracen knights, the King of Hungary, and the heroine's aunt.) There is a lovely imperious solo for the heroine, a string of Petipa solos, and a famous pas de quatre for the men which includes one of those double-tours-for-each-in-turn sequences which one always imagines the dancers must dread.

Fonteyn danced Raymonda in this excerpt often towards the end of her career, and most of the company's classical ballerinas have followed her. It's a testing role - as indeed are the other soloist roles - as it needs some degree of 'character' flavouring although the steps are strictly classical. The music is by Glazunov - and therefore highly danceable - and with a good cast this looks like one of the RB's best productions.