‘International Choreography’ reviews ‘Stranger’s Taste’ reviews ‘Hidden Variables’ reviews Kistler Reviews?

The centrepiece however, was a series of short works from a range of choreographers who had been specially invited to create a piece for the reopening of the ROH: the final list included Bejart, Duarto, Forsythe, Kudelka, Martins, Neumeier, Tetley and Tharp, but earlier on a number of other names were bandied around too, but dropped out. At each evening, a selection of these are shown - you need to attend three performances or so to see them all. It seemed a good opportunity to see something quite unique.

There were a few surprises though. Of the five items presented on the opening night, only one was a new creation, a pas de deux for Darcey Bussell and Otto Bubenicek of Hamburg Ballet, made for them by Neumeier. All the other items were fairly recent creations, but the surprise was that they were not in most cases danced by the Royal, but by guests from other companies. I had assumed that the Royal might be using the occasion as a means of acquiring some new pieces, but it doesn’t appear so from this. In fact we saw only four dancers from the Royal in this section: it is, of course, always nice to see guests, but we’ve been waiting to see the Royal back on stage here for some time, and guests might have been more appreciated in a few month’s time. The five items presented were: the fourth movement of Tagore (Tetley, 1989), Remanso (Duarto, 1997), Barber Violin Concerto (Martins, 1997), Lento (Neumeier, 1999), and summer from Four Seasons (Kudelka, 1997).

Greta Hodgkinson and Rex Harrington of the National Ballet of Canada appeared first in Tagore. She has beautiful long legs, nicely shown off by the costume: the choreography didn’t seem that memorable, although it was quite a polished performance. The audience response was much bigger to the second item, Remanso, perhaps because the cast of Acosta, Cope and Urlezaga included some real audience favourites. A cube at the back of the stage provides a screen for the three to disappear behind, reappear from, climb over and generally mess about with. I thought it was quite amusing, and gave the dancers to show off a little, but when a red rose made its appearance - between Cope’s teeth at that - I began to lose patience with it.

Darci Kistler and Jock Soto appeared in the second movement of Martin’s Barber Violin Concerto. This seemed a very uneasy piece, full of unexplained tensions: Kistler’s pointe shoes were notably loud which seemed to add to the atmosphere. It’s always difficult to gets to grips with a work when you only see a short excerpt, and this item probably suffered more than most - it looked like it needed a broader context. Lento was quite different: it was the only item made for the occasion, specifically as a short item for Bussell. Her partner, Otto Bubenicek, from Hamburg Ballet, proved very strong and reliable, but the work seemed to be all about Darcey (resplendent in a red leotard), or more specifically, about Darcey’s legs. They are very long indeed, and their various possibilities were exhaustively investigated. Lovely for the first few minutes, but repetition did set in. But she was very warmly welcomed, and it was lovely to see her again.

The final item of the mix saw the return of Greta Hodgkinson and Rex Harrington in Kudelka’s summer pas de deux from the Four Seasons. They looked quite different dancers in this piece than they did earlier. This was a passionate piece, with lots of dangerous looking lifts which had echoes of Macmillan. It was probably the most accessible item of the five in terms of music and presentation, and was very popular. Still, if these five items represent the best choreography being made in the world today, I can’t help but feel rather depressed.

The opening item of the evening was a new work created by Siobhan Davies, A Stranger’s Taste. Obviously, the outcome where Davies was working with the Royal’s dancers was going to be very different from her own group with whom she has worked very closely for years. The result was not so highly worked and intricate as Davies recent work such as Wild Air, partly due perhaps to the limited preparation time available. The Royal’s dancers aren’t quite so at ease in her off-centre, off-balance world. I found it an interesting collaboration, if not a wholly successful one. If it has the air of an experiment, it was still one worth making and it did raise more questions in the mind about the language of dance than some of the other works that evening. Opinions among the audience differed quite dramatically, from outright dislike to great enjoyment.

The music used sounded on paper, to be a wildly disparate mixture: some 17th and 18th century music for viol and harpsichord, alternating with items of John Cage for prepared piano. In performance these blended together surprisingly well. Bruce Sansom seemed surprisingly at ease with Davies’s language, as did, more predictably, Deborah Bull. Given more time, the cast could become more at ease in their roles, and the work might read more clearly by January.

The final item was Ashley Page’s Hidden Variables, to music by Colin Matthews. This must be something like Page’s 18th or 19th work for the Royal, and it was all very familiar stuff. A set with strong lighting contrasts; large bits of the set which move at intervals for no particular reason; lots of black in the costumes for the dancers; costume changes; all these ingredients are standard Page. There’s less overt sexuality and more abstraction than usual: in this respect, Hidden Variables is most closely modelled on his earlier Fearful Symmetries. However, it lacks the propelling urgency of Symmetries’ score. The music had been specially expanded by Matthews for this performance, but at 40 minutes it was too long and too diffuse to sustain interest.

Dancers always get to work hard in Page, and they were kept busy hurtling from one side of the stage to another. Occasionally, when Acosta partnered Mara Galeazzi and Laura Morera, something more concentrated and interesting looked about to happen. But the moment was soon lost in more waves of action. Nevertheless the work got a warm reception - for effort if nothing else.

It’s good to have them back. But it was a surprisingly downbeat evening, rather than a celebratory one.