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This evening BRB gives the final performance of the first half of their Ashton programme. It consists of four short pieces (Voices of Spring, Five Brahms Waltzes in the manner of Isadora Duncan, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, The Walk to the Paradise Garden) followed by The Two Pigeons. Audiences have been large and very enthusiastic; it seems that Ashton still has the magic touch as far as most English ballet-goers are concerned.

The divertissements are exquisite miniatures and it was a delight to see them, for the first time for many in the audience. Voices of Spring calls for a more bravura style than comes natural to BRB dancers but, towards the end of last week, driven on by the orchestra which was driven on by Barry Wordsworth, the dancers seemed to be getting the measure of it. Leticia Muller should have danced the Brahms Waltzes (I hear she looked superb in rehearsal) but she was injured and Molly Smolen did all the performances. I thought she was splendid. Tweedledum and Tweedledee was danced very well for the most part as was Walk to Paradise Garden. In the latter both Sabrina Lenzi and Ambra Vallo were very moving.

At the start of the run the gypsy dances in The Two Pigeons looked very ragged and under-rehearsed but they were better by the weekend. The scenes with the gypsies went best with Catherine Batcheller as the gypsy girl. She showed how a full-blooded attack on that role could really raise a performance. Of course, The Two Pigeons is really about the reconciliation pas de deux at the end and that, as always, worked its magic on me each time I saw it.

If you missed this at Birmingham, you can see it at Sunderland, Bradford and Plymouth in the Autumn. I expect we will see the best performances of this bill on that tour.

The second half of the Ashton tribute, the triple bill of Scenes de Ballet, Dante Sonata and Enigma Variations, opens on Friday. It will be interesting to see how popular it is. Scene de Ballet is a wonderful piece but it is rather cold and astringent and takes more than one viewing to get used to. From the bits I’ve seen of Dante Sonata, it doesn’t look much like an Ashton work.