© Andrew Ross and Scottish Ballet 'Episodes' reviews 'MiddleSexGorge' reviews 'Artifact' reviews Mutso in reviews Liburd in reviews recent SB reviews more Jane Simpson reviews Discuss this review (Open for at least 6 months)

Balanchine's Episodes hasn't been danced in London for more than forty years, apparently, and though it's near-impossible to imagine why not, it's a huge thrill for those of us who've never seen it before to discover a 'new' Balanchine piece of such richness and depth. Everything about it is extraordinary: structure (four sections, all completely different from each other - a quadruple bill in miniature), steps (echoes of the slightly earlier Agon mixed with things that had never been seen before), music (Webern), and history (it was made as a joint enterprise with Martha Graham - her bit was about Mary, Queen of Scots, and one of her dancers, Paul Taylor, had a solo in the Balanchine half); and as for its meaning, I don't think anyone has ever worked out exactly what Balanchine was telling us. An alarming prospect, then: but on stage it doesn't come across as an intellectual puzzle but as a dazzling exhibition of the power of choreography, showing us, simultaneously, extraordinary physical feats and immense emotional possibilities. Follow that...
 

Episodes is nearly fifty years old but could have been made yesterday; Petronio's MiddleSexGorge, made in 1990, in contrast feels like a sweetly nostalgic look back to an era when putting men on stage dressed in corsets and very little else was enough to shock the bourgeoisie. To be fair to the choreographer, I think that to recreate its initial efffect it would need to be much more rudely done than the present cast manages, but on the other hand the evaporation of the outrage element makes it easier to appreciate the cleverness of the choreography and the sometimes stunningly beautiful groupings.

Seeing Forsythe's Suite from Artifact through the prism of Episodes was even more fascinating. As it happens there are fewer than usual of his audience-teasing tricks in it, but after the did-I-really-see-that oddities of the Balanchine, even those that are left lose their power to annoy or surprise. So the curtain comes crashing down in the middle of the dancing? Why not?, is all we think. As in the Petronio, it's the choreography alone which has to convince. And it does: I've never enjoyed a Forsythe piece so much, and for the first time I can understand how he sees himself as an heir to Balanchine ( though not THE heir). It uses almost the entire company, and I was especially impressed by the way he organises such a big cast: for instance there's a bit where a line of men walk through the groups of women, clapping their hands as they walk, which is not only inventive and pleasing to the eye but also, in its simplicity, unexpectedly moving.

I've said very little about the dancers so far: it's a company evening, and although there were individuals it would be impossible not to notice - Paul Liburd, Patricia Hines, Erik Cavallari, Eva Mutso and several others - it's the achievement of the whole group which is most admirable. Of course they're not perfect - MiddleSexGorge could be raunchier, some of Episodes looked a little under-danced - but given their recent history it's a wonder to see them dancing with such cohesiveness and conviction. They will be repeating this programme in Edinburgh and Glasgow in the next few weeks, and if you're near enough to get to see them - well, lucky you.

Scottish Ballet are at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre from 30 March - 1 April, and at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, from 5 - 8 April.