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Following an early flight, we arrived in a mist enshrouded Brescia, its old sugar-almond coloured buildings looking damp and half asleep still through the morning drizzle.

Last year in February it was freezing cold but very bright and we had a chance to explore the town. This year we scuttled off up the cobbled streets to the theatre as quickly as possible, to sit in the warm darkness and watch the dancers limbering up and rehearsing.

As before, Mara had arranged the Gala herself, choosing the pieces, the dancers, the lighting and making sure everything happened according to plan…. not an easy task when access to the theatre was limited time-wise, and some of the rehearsals had to take place at La Scala instead. In addition, Mara had also been dancing in Giselle at the ROH, had flown to a gala in Siena on the 5th February to dance the R&J Balcony scene pdd with Ed Watson and danced Concerto pdd with Gary Avis at the Plisetskaya Gala in London on February 12th. Well, they do say ask a busy person if you want to get something done!

The theme for the Gala was a tribute to Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev, so most of the pieces were ones for which they were renowned, such as Le Corsaire pdd.

The success of last year’s Gala ensured that tickets had sold out on the first day of sale,and there was a buzz of anticipation in the air as everyone took their seats in the gorgeous Teatro Grande, with its golden cupids, red plush decor and painted ceiling.

There were some changes to the announced programme as unfortunately Viasheslav Samodurov was injured and could not participate. Apart from Mara herself the other dancers were Edward Watson, Sarah Lamb, Lauren Cuthbertson, Rupert Pennefather, Yuhui Choe, Zachary Faruque and Vito Mazzeo, all from the Royal Ballet.

The evening opened with the final pdd from Ashton’s Birthday Offering (1956), danced by Lauren Cuthbertson and new artist Vito Mazzeo. The rather garish old-fashioned yellow costumes, though not to my taste, added to the period feel of the piece, written to celebrate the Royal Ballet’s 25th birthday. The work has a joyous feel to it and Lauren and Vito danced confidently, clearly enjoying themselves. It is very promising to see a new artist looking so assured on stage. Vito is only 18 years old but is tall and strong and made an excellent partner for Lauren, and in his solos demonstrated that he has a light but powerful high jump and an elegant line.
 

An excerpt from the third act of Ondine followed, with Mara in the leading role and Ed Watson as Palemon. It’s a short pdd which taken out of context might have been hard to follow story-wise for those unfamiliar with the plot, yet they danced it with such conviction that the atmosphere of foreboding, yearning love and despair was conjured in the space of a few minutes.

In contrast, some traditional Tchaikovsky came next…the Grand pdd from Act 3 of the Sleeping Beauty. Sarah Lamb, partnered by Rupert Pennefather, danced with delightful precision with perfect pirouettes around the stage and complete control in her variations. Rupert was nursing a foot injury so sadly he was unable to perform his variation, but he partnered with his usual elegance and understated style.
 

This was followed by a new work by the Royal Ballet’s Vanessa Fenton, performed by Yuhui Choe and Zachary Faruque. Its a cheeky, exuberant love duet, danced in matching black costumes adorned with a red rose, with some smoochy ballroom dancing ( on pointe !) Hopefully we’ll see this again in the Linbury Theatre or Clore Studio later this year? They made a delightful couple and I think Yuhui particularly has something very special about her dancing.

The first half ended with Giselle act 2, danced by Mara with Vito Mazzeo standing in for Viacheslav Samodurov at short notice. Mara’s recent performances of Giselle at the ROH meant that her reading of the role was secure, eloquent and beautifully danced, even without the benefit of scenery, mist and a corps of Wilis. Again, Vito proved himself to be an able partner and Albrecht’s solos were excellent. No wonder this young man won student of the year twice whilst at La Scala ballet school.

Part Two commenced with a moving solo titled 'Vissi d'arte' choreographed by Liam Scarlett, danced by Mara and dedicated to her special friend Romina. Mara wore a long draped dark red gown, her hair loose save for a red hair band, with flat ballet slippers on her feet. The piece started with Mara facing away from us at the back of the stage, with small flowing graceful arm movements building up to a smooth enigmatic soul-searching dance. This culminated in a crescendo of leaps across the stage and a still moment of searching, eyes imploring and with questioning arms slowly raised in silent appeal.
 

To raise our spirits, the next work was Le Corsaire pdd, an old favourite and a real firecracker of a piece, recently seen at the Plisetskya Gala. Yuhui Choe shone in the Fonteyn role, sparkling in a lilac and white tutu and whizzing through her variations with some astonishingly good fouettes. The stage at the theatre has quite a strong rake and there is a tendency to drift downstage when turning, but Yuhui was spot on. She radiates confidence and its clear why she was chosen as first prize winner at the 2002 Prix de Lausanne. I’d really like to see her in some more soloist roles at the Royal Ballet very soon as I think she has great potential. Her partner Zachary Faruque did not seem quite so confident and his performance, though sound and always maintaining good character, lacked the oomph and height of jump that one expects from Le Corsaire. But altogether it was a very entertaining piece.

The White Swan adagio followed, danced by Sarah Lamb and Rupert Pennefather. Sarah danced with her usual cool grace and technical assurance, with beautifully limpid arms and lovely soft flexible back bends. Rupert partnered her strongly, yet I feel he needs a little more ‘backbone’ in his characterisations to bring them more vividly to life. He is meant to be in love with this vision of beauty after all!

The penultimate work was a lively rendition of the second act pdd from Raymonda,danced with great verve by Lauren Cuthbertson and Vito Mazzeo. Lauren showed tremendous energy and spirit here, and was well matched by Vito who was almost too exuberant, if possible. My ‘man of the match’ award must surely go to Vito, who enjoyed every minute of his three performances that night. I hope he will soon have the chance to prove his mettle on the Opera House stage in London.

The last piece was a new work by up and coming ROH choreographer and artist Liam Scarlett, a young man whose talent reminded a few of us of some of Kenneth MacMillan’s work, with some interesting and complicated lifts and holds in a duet entitled Margot and Rudy. Danced in simple white costumes by Mara and Edward to piano music (by?) it seemed to tell a dream-like love story, full of hope and radiating mutual love and respect. Edward and Mara share the ability to convey deep meaning to this almost abstract work.

A brief finale brought the entire cast back on stage to enthusiastic applause.

Many congratulations to Mara and all her ‘team’ of dancers, technicians and friends who arranged this special gala and made our trip to Brescia such fun. Thanks for letting us join you afterwards so that the London ‘posse’ really felt part of the adventure.

Mille Grazie, Mara!