© Martin Mydtskov Ronne 'Abdallah' reviews Eggert, in reviews Watson in reviews recent Royal Danish Ballet reviews 3rd Bournonville Festival website more Michelle Potter reviews

A three act work set in the town of Basra in Iraq, it tells the story of a poor shoemaker, Abdallah, and his love for the girl across the street, Irma. After a variety of events involving magic, intrigue, and the gaining and subsequent loss of riches, Abdallah and Irma are united and love and fidelity are shown to be the virtues to which one must aspire.

Abdallah enchants with its feats of technical magic not the least of which is the disappearance of Irma’s mother through a trapdoor. When she begins to get in the way of Abdallah with his new found riches he simply lights his magic candle and causes her to disappear in a flurry of smoke and fire. Such fun and so theatrical in an old fashioned way. The work also enchants in the way that all the productions of the Bournonville Festival to date have done. There is so much onstage activity in which the entire cast engages. From the children to the older character dancers, and not forgetting the ‘regular’ dancers of the company, the entire cast is completely absorbed and involved in carrying the story along. So much so that no matter how slight or fairytale-esque that story is, and Abdallah is really a variation of Aladdin, it is never slow. We in the audience are carried along too.
 

In this performance for the Festival, Abdallah was danced by soloist Morten Eggert and Irma by another soloist, Amy Watson. Both danced with grace and fluidity, Watson with a charm that befitted her character, Eggert with that typical Bournonville softness of movement that characterises the male technique in particular. Other fine performances came from Yao Wei as Selime, daughter of Sheik Ismail and from a tiny young man from the Royal Danish Ballet School called Tobias Praetorius. As Sadi, a Slave Boy his ability to hold his own on stage at such a tender age was remarkable.

Abdallah is also something of a curiosity in that it has probably more dancing in it than most of the other Bournonville ballets that are currently in repertoire. In many respects its subtitle could be ‘An excuse for dancing’ rather the inexplicable ‘The Gazelle from Balfora’. There is even a mini-ballet within a ballet in Act II when the ladies of the harem entertain Abdallah with a series of diverting dancing.

But Abdallah is not to my mind one of the great Bournonville ballets. While it was well danced on this occasion, and while the action sped along, it seemed rather like a mish-mash of ideas and styles of performing. Somehow La Bayadere mixed with pantomime kept coming to mind. Good to see once or twice but nothing like Napoli or La Sylphide in its ability to hold the attention and arouse the admiration for August Bournonville.