© Asya Verzhbinsky RB 'Mayerling' reviews Kobborg in reviews Cojocaru in reviews recent RB reviews Contact reviews Wildor in reviews more Jeffery Taylor reviews

First there is the class act in Covent Garden where the Royal Ballet, with its disastrous ex-director Ross Stretton thankfully replaced by company veteran Monica Mason, danced the late Kenneth MacMillan's colossal drama, Mayerling, in a tribute performance, ten years to the day of the choreographer's death. There is a confusion of minor characters and a surfeit of scenes but Nicholas Georgiadis's sets evoke the gilded Baroque majesty of the Imperial palaces of the Hapsburg Empire that the drug crazed schizophrenic Crown Prince Rudolf called home.

Kobborg and Cojocaru in Mayerling
Photograph by Asya Verzhbinsky ©

Johan Kobborg's Rudolf has pale skin too tight for his skull and a slender physique shredded by internal demons taking over the asylum. A pint sized time bomb, he ticks towards nuclear fission and takes with him Alina Cojocaru as his mistress Mary Vetsera. In a triumphant performance that takes this balletic wunderkind one step nearer greatness, Cojocaru is a wanton virgin with a body crackling with lithe promise. Not surprisingly, she sends Rudolf round the bend and he shoots them both. This is a company in triumphant mood and not to be missed.

And if there is the slightest doubt in your mind that great dancing cannot put a smile back on your face, go at once to see the British dancers in the Broadway sensation, Contact, and be converted. Susan Stroman's Tony award winning hit is a perfectly crafted piece of feel-good musical theatre. Impeccable timing, condensed emotions, and tunes the world already whistles (Puccini, Dean Martin, Simply Irresistible, Do You Wanna Dance? ) are all underpinned by an unshakable faith in human nature.

Former Royal Ballet dancer, Sarah Wildor, triumphantly takes her acting abilities across the divide from steps to words and skilfully breaks our hearts while lone American dance star Leigh Zimmerman is a divine intervention just standing there in her yellow dress. Chris Jarvis dances to a disturbing different drum that is utterly hypnotic and Craig Urbani's comedy is tinged with genius. Created as a tribute to the late Englishman she loved, Stroman's message is simple and crystal clear, get dancing, make contact make love! And who would argue with that.