'Beyond Bach' reviews 'The Leaves are Fading' reviews 'Marguerite and Armand' reviews Nunez in reviews Guillem in reviews recent RB reviews

Finally! I've been enjoying the long run of Onegins but it's gratifying to have something new for a change....
Beyond Bach

Beyond Bach is too beautiful to describe. A cathedral-like setting with a huge window looking out into a surreal bright blue sky that fades and becomes bright again. The dancers periodically appear from all over the stage, through doorways, behind columns, and the prettiest picture of all, down a spiral staircase so that the first one sees of the girls are their bare backs. I love one of the quotes given by Stephen Baynes in the programme

“When the curtain raises it should be like opening the door to a place which has remained untouched for centuries.”

First cast were wonderful all round. Marianela Nunez has come a long way since I first saw her as a snippy Swanhilda. She's obviously grown since adding Kitri and Olga to her repertoire and in this role she displayed a gentleness that I’ve never seen before in her. Is it the first time Nunez has been the lead in first cast because it’s something she fully deserves. Darcey looked completely at home, a picture of serenity, and both dancers were beautifully partnered by Cope and Urlezaga.

There is no discernible plot – the ballet is choreographed to the composition of the music. It’s detailed with quiet entrances, beautiful lifts and dancers effortlessly changing from one partner to another - all very pleasing to the eye. Air on a G string was my highlight and was enchanting to listen to and watch. The choreography is seemingly very spare, like the costumes. One quibble I have is the lack of uniformity in the corps, which destroyed the mood for me in some places.

The Leaves are Fading

Set to pieces by Dvorak, is centred on 4 pas de deux and is about ‘changing love’. I thought it was superb throughout, the standout unsurprisingly being Alina Cojocaru. She attacked her solo with verve and was so fast, but at the same time so expressive and supple and absolutely breathtaking. Her entire body seamlessly made one beautiful shape into another. Her arms were making tiny subtle motions right to the very last lift. She was partnered so well by Kobborg in the second pas de deux but Alina pretty much obliterated any dancer on stage beside her.

Also very impressive were Leanne Benjamin and Nathan Coppen in the first pdd, Tamara Rojo and Martin Harvey I liked especially in the third, and Mara Galeazzi and Johan Persson in the fourth.

Marguerite and Armand

I have to confess that until today I had seen nothing of Marguerite and Armand – not Fonteyn and Nureyev (live nor on video) and I’m probably the only person here who didn’t see it’s last run in the Ashton mixed bill. The compressed, fast-paced format I found a little unsettling. I wasn’t very moved by the ballet apart from the crescendos in the Liszt music, and there were long stretches of choreography that I didn’t find at all compelling. Still Sylvie Guillem was lovely and looked so young from my seat. Her broken walk on pointe is an image that I won’t easily forget. I thought Le Riche’s dancing was tremendous and through him I could easily imagine Nureyev in the role. Looking forward to seeing Cope and Murru in this as well. And a final note, the programme interestingly states that Ashton hadn’t meant it for just Fonteyn and Nureyev – that Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable were understudies.

As a triple bill I’m not sure it works too well. Beyond Bach and Leaves are stand out ballets on their own but I think it’s a mistake to put them back to back. They're too similar in mood, both very languid and dreamy. And though I appreciate the ‘remembrance of things past’ thread and the exceptional music that runs through them, I wouldn’t have minded something more contrasting like The Dream/Song of the Earth mixed bill we saw last year.

So what did everyone else think?