Dante Sonata reviews BRB Enigma reviews all Enigma reviews all BRB reviews

The second part of BRB’s Ashton season was the triple bill of Scenes de ballet, Dante Sonata and Enigma Variations and, to me, it seemed quite superb. It will not be as popular as, say, the Jazz Triple Bill, because it requires more effort from the audience but those prepared to make the effort are well rewarded with three great and varied works. It seems extraordinary that the same choreographer did produce three such totally different pieces, so different in style as well as content.

Scenes de ballet was not a great success when first produced but over the years it has come to be regarded as one of Ashton’s very best pure dance works, although, even now, it can need a few viewings to fully appreciate it. What it needs in performance is a very well-drilled and precise ensemble and a true prima ballerina as the female lead. It did not always get these from BRB due to a variety of circumstances, mostly unavoidable. Because of injury to Andrew Murphy and the illness of Robert Parker, neither the first nor second cast leads ever appeared and it was left to Nao Sakuma to dance the ballerina role in every performance. I have the greatest admiration for this most promising dancer but she does lack the experience of dancing such a totally exposed role. However, towards the end of the run she was getting the measure of it without ever quite showing the brilliance I feel it requires. The corps was pretty ragged to begin with but, after a few performances, there was a big improvement.

Dante Sonata is difficult to describe because it is so different to any other Ashton work. It is almost totally an ensemble piece and requires all the dancers to pull out every stop. Frankly, it is way over the top at times, make that most of the time, but magnificently so. Actually, so is the Liszt music. Some people didn’t like it at all, some were lukewarm and some thought it dated but most seemed to find it terrific. Whatever the view, anyone with any interest in English ballet ought to see it.

Enigma Variations was first performed by BRB six years ago and they did it proud with Desmond Kelly and Sherilyn Kennedy paticularly memorable as Elgar and Lady Elgar. There was nothing as good this time but what we saw was true to the spirit of the work and audiences seemed to enjoy it.