(The following is as it appeared on the Ballet.co Postings Page)
Gerald, fully agree that this was the best mixed bill I have seen for very long. Most mixed programmes in the past have produced mixed feelings in me - some of the bits I liked, some I only sat through. But this one was simply a pleasure - and for some of the ballets I felt sorry when they were over! Having arrived in London only the night before at 1 am and not slept well, I still became tired and unable to fully enjoy "Gloria" - but simply because it was too much of new stuff to be fully appreciated.
La Valse
The music was the only part I had known before - and I do like it. I loved the costumes and the corps de ballet virtouosity, plus I really enjoyed the three principal couples.
Symphonic Variations
Yoshida/Urlezaga - Hatley/Kobborg - Tapper/Tuifua
Could not believe how old this ballet is - it looked absolutely timeless! Especially liked Miyako Yoshida who made the quickest steps look completely easy and natural. Jaimie Tapper and Belinda Hatley were good, too, and for the boys I was also surprised by Inaki Urlezaga who moved with such grace and landed smoothly. Johann Kobborg I had only seen in "The Crucible" before - or, to say it better, I had read his name on the cast list, but due to the costumes I would not say I saw HIM... I liked his beautiful line!
Monotones
Bussell - Urlezaga - Marriott (replacing Nigel Burley)
Those costumes.... not flattering at all... But once I got over the "cosmic" look, it was fine. This ballet looked like a sequence of beautiful poses, almost paintings, to me, changing smoothly from one to the next. It must ber very difficult to perform it, but the three dancers gave it an almost dream like quality. I was very happy to see Darcey Bussell back in such good shape, and though I missed Nigel Burley, I thought his replacement Alastair Marriott coped very well - and probably even better on Monday!
Lilac Garden
Guillem - Tranah - Cope - Saunders
Beautiful settings, beautiful costumes - beautiful ballet. Looked quite modern, too! I liked Sylvie Guillem and Jonathan Cope (although Sylvie looked a bit cool) - but a huge compliment to Nicola Tranah, the "episode from his past" who got the style of that time perfectly right! She looked like a movie star from the fourties!
Gloria
Benjamin - Saunders - Cope and many others
Was amazed by the principals' dancing, and touched by Leanne Benjamin's vulnerability. As written before, I could not fully follow the plot or understand it as by then I had become a bit tired, but was moved a lot. Following comment of "The Guardian" (Judith Mackrell. Ed) sums a lot up well, I think: "Gloria had Leanne Benjamin dancing an exquisite angel of death, with Jonathan Cope as the iconic unknown soldier giving the uncanny impression of a body both supercharged with power and refined into ghostly wheightlessness."
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