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I was lucky enough to catch the second of Mara’s performances, which took place in the civic theatre (the Teatro G. Rossini no less) at Civitanova Marche, a small seaside resort on Italy’s Adriatic coast, not far from Macerata, where the opera festival takes place in Summer. Civitanova Marche is presenting a year long dance festival and styles itself “the city of Cecchetti”, since the great Russian ballet master of the Maryinsky Ballet once had a house in the town. The civic theatre is part of the town hall complex, facing on to the main town square. The town hall is the magnificent “Palazzo Sforza”, renovated in 1862 on top of a 14th century building. It is beautifully lit at night.

The evening was a popular triumph, both for the dancers and for Mara Galeazzi personally, ending with rhythmic clapping and wild enthusiasm from the audience. I understand that the agent and sponsors were delighted with the artistic quality and the audience response and have invited Mara Galeazzi to lead another mini-tour of Italy during the mid-season break in early 2008.

In true Italian style, the performance had begun at 9.30 p.m. - half-an-hour after the advertised time – and it finished at 11.30 p.m. The success was achieved despite considerable technical difficulties (the group arrived late the previous evening and only had the daytime for the “get in”) and despite the challenges of a 6% rake – something almost unknown to ballet dancers – even the (in)famous rake at the Bolshoi in Moscow is only 4%.

The programme was well-chosen and well-ordered, providing considerable contrasts in choreographic style, colour and lighting and good opportunities for all the dancers. There were 10 dancers from the Royal Ballet, joined by Alexander Zaitsev, a principal dancer of the Stuttgart Ballet.

Here is the full programme and casting:

-Giselle – Act II pas de deux (Adam/Wright after Perrot) – Mara Galeazzi, Alexander Zaitsev

Monotones No. 2 (Satie/Ashton) – Christina Arestis, Gary Avis, Edward Watson

Rhapsody – pas de deux (Rachmaninov/Ashton) – Natasha Oughtred, Vito Mazzeo

Qualia – pas de deux (Scanner/McGregor) – Mara Galeazzi, Edward Watson

Swan Lake – pas de quatre (Tchaikovsky/Ashton) – Yuhui Choe, Deirdre Chapman, Ernst Meisner, James Wilkie

Concerto – pas de deux (Shostakovich/MacMillan) – Mara Galeazzi, Gary Avis

Les Bourgeois (Brel/van Cauwenbergh) – Alexander Zaitsev

Afsted (Boccherini/Brandstrup) – Deirdre Chapman, Gary Avis

The Leaves are Fading – pas de deux (Dvorak/Tudor) – Yuhui Choe, Vito Mazzeo

Elite Syncopations – excerpts (Joplin/MacMillan) – Mara Galeazzi and Edward Watson, Natasha Oughtred and Ernst Meisner, Deirdre Chapman and Gary Avis, Christina Arestis and James Wilkie.

Perhaps I should start with Mara herself. She showed us her tremendous range and versatility, in four substantial excerpts from very different ballets, with three different partners. Many readers will recall Mara as strong-featured, characterful and a forceful stage personality – but she appeared pale, lissom and fey as Giselle, quite in keeping with the mood of the piece, melting into the arms of Albrecht and conveying the softness of Giselle with restrained hand movements and gentle arms and hands. You could feel the confidence she has gained from dancing full-length principal roles for several years. By contrast, Alexander Zaitsev

Poster for the Civitanova Marche show © Mandy Kent

appeared unsure and ill-at-ease. He has great technical strengths and he showed them, but his interpretation was diffident and strained. Maybe he was anxious about starting off the programme and about the extreme rake of the stage.

Back in Qualia, Mara had the advantage of the towering Edward Watson, who created the role. No hesitancy or insecurity here! Edward dances full on with great energy and presence and with extraordinary flexibility of limbs and torso. I particularly relished the demonstrative six o’clock positioning of his legs at one point, quite rivalling Sylvie Guillem or Svetlana Zakharova. Mara is not yet quite at home with the surface sweetness and subtle control required of the Qualia ballerina, but the role brought her strength of character and personality to the fore. She provided a spirited battle, before yielding somewhat resignedly at the end to Edward Watson’s domination.

Mara’s next outing was the sublime Concerto pas de deux, danced with Gary Avis, well-known to London audiences as a ballerina’s dream partner, confident, strong, secure and powerful, but self-effacing. He lived up to his reputation in every aspect. Mara was floating and serene, once again demonstrating her ability to drift off into another world, as in Giselle, but also sculpting the beautiful body shapes of MacMillan’s choreography, confident in the support of Gary Avis, describing circles in the air with her arms and torso. As the glorious music came to an end, one sensed the audience catching its breath and then sinking into a slight depression after the “highs” of the pas de deux, as the two dancers sped off the stage. This number opened the second half and put the audience in a mood of high expectation for the rest of the show.

Finally Mara returned in Elite Syncopations, chic and elegant as only an Italian lady knows how. It was a perfect interpretation of this role, calling upon Mara’s experience and insight, as she gloried in her own dancing and in her control of the dance hall, letting slip a passing irritation when the other girls showed off their party tricks, ultimately presenting herself as the dominatrix of the evening. She was close to matching Merle Park, for whom MacMillan conceived the part. She was partnered again by Edward Watson, looking very confident and relaxed, in full control of the dancing and providing a satisfactory counter-balance to his difficult and determined lady. Edward Watson had danced the Bethena Waltz with an injury during the 75th anniversary divertissements in London last summer. This performance in Italy was a different matter, showing him back at the height of his powers.

If I have concentrated on Mara’s performances, it is because they set the tone for the whole evening, in variety, versatility and success. However the whole ensemble complemented Mara and provided tantalising glimpses of their ability, achievement and potential. I hope we will see more of these young dancers in the seasons to come.

It is a long time since we have seen Monotones in London, one of the most notable absences in the Ashton centenary year. Christina Arestis and Edward Watson had danced this ballet at the Royal Ballet School and later with Dance Bites. They were joined by Gary Avis. The performance was dominated by Christina Arestis, sinuous and pliant of body, mysterious of face and expression, in the tradition of Deanne Bergsma. The lighting did not quite evoke the sombre shadows and silhouettes of the original, but went some way towards creating the atmosphere of this ballet. You could feel the concentration building in the audience, stifling their applause reluctantly at the end of the first and second sections, as the music moved on relentlessly. The three dancers linked hands and ran softly and stealthily in an anti-clockwise direction, reminiscent of the clockwise run in Symphonic Variations. Once again you could feel the audience take a sharp intake of breath, as the magic was terminated by the blackout.

Rhapsody has the advantage of very familiar and powerful music. Natasha Oughtred and Vito Mazzeo have not danced this very difficult ballet before. Natasha, fresh from a lengthy series of Claras in The Nutcracker, was radiant and serene, particularly relishing the grand lift, as she gracefully extended her arms to right and left, demonstrating by gesture this moment of pure happiness. She seems to have a natural ability to convey glamour, whenever she appears on stage. She does not yet have the poise and command of Leanne Benjamin in this ballet, but she is well on the way to ballerina status. Vito is more familiar in the confines of restricting court dress, pushing sledges or handing out sweets with saintly condescension. It was so unexpected to see him dancing full out in demanding choreography. He is tall, handsome and powerful with beautiful style and line – a very confident partner; but he clearly lacks experience on stage. His acting was crude and over-eager, his demeanour anxious and nervous. Given more opportunity to tackle featured roles, he could develop into a fine danseur noble.

The first half concluded with the so-called Ashton Pas de Quatre, the divertissement Ashton created in 1963 to replace the Act I Pas de Trois in Swan Lake and which was performed in the 1970s as a divertissement in Act III. This again is very difficult technical choreography, created originally for Merle Park, Antoinette Sibley, Brian Shaw and Graham Usher. This time it was danced by Yuhui Choe (first variation), Ernst Meisner and James Wilkie (second (boys’) variation) and Deirdre Chapman (third variation). This was a fine performance and the ballet had clearly been well rehearsed and polished. Yuhui was pert, coquettish, delighting in her rapid jumps and shapely arms; Ernst Meisner with stylish long legs and beautiful line; James Wilkie, sharp of expression and gesture, always totally focussed; Deirdre Chapman, confident and precise; the four of them presenting elegantly and aristocratically in the stylish black and purple costumes. Apart from slight hesitancy over turning, occasioned no doubt by the severe rake of the stage, this was a very secure performance indeed – a clear demonstration of the potential of some of our younger dancers.

The second half opened with Concerto pas de deux and was followed by Les Bourgeois, the “drunken” solo by Ben van Cauwenbergh to music by Jacques Brel, which was performed by Carlos Acosta last summer at Sadler’s Wells. This time it was danced by Alexander Zaitsev. If Giselle had raised some doubts as to Zaitsev’s inclusion in the programme, they were dispelled by this magnificent solo. Peering curiously, as if semi-blind, through distancing spectacles, Zaitsev excelled in the bravura and swagger of this solo – apparently tipsy and therefore fearless. He was fearless; the rake appeared to hold no terrors for him; he executed a pyrotechnic series of turns and jumps, whilst always remaining in character with the occasional confused stagger. This solo deservedly brought the house down. I hope to see more of Zaitsev in London.

Deirdre Chapman and Gary Avis danced Afsted, the pas de deux created by Kim Brandstrup to music by Boccherini, for Johan Kobborg’s Out of Denmark programme at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in September 2003. It was first danced by Zenaida Yanowsky and Dylan Elmore and repeated at the Dance Umbrella closing gala last November with Zenaida and Gary Avis. This is a very mature piece, with strong, but rather understated gestures, clearly a long-term relationship undergoing a mid-term crisis. It is very profound in mood and requires more than one viewing to be understood fully. Far from bravura, the choreography rolls forward slowly with the bodies and particularly the heads moving sometimes in unison and sometimes in conflict. At the end Gary Avis leaves the stage, with Deirdre Chapman left behind, staring powerfully, but blankly, into the audience. This piece requires considerable experience of dance and of life and this was amply provided by the two dancers, both well cast in this difficult ballet.

The mood changed quickly with the main pas de deux from Antony Tudor’s The Leaves are Fading, danced by Yuhui Choe and Vito Mazzeo. This pas de deux reflects a young relationship, but confident, secure and fulfilled, beautifully interpreted by Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg in the 2001 revival at the Royal Opera House. Yuhui had the full measure of the piece, serene, radiant, soaring in her partner’s arms, confident that he would be in position to catch her, as she turned or leapt towards him. Vito once again showed his secure partnering, his technical ability and his beautiful line, but even more than in Rhapsody, he demonstrated lack of stage experience and naivety of interpretation. Perhaps influenced by the Romeo-like costume, he was too urgent, too puppy-like, too pressing on his ballerina, not confident or equal enough in the relationship.
 

Finally six of the twelve movements from Elite Syncopations, absent from the Royal Opera House for nearly 20 years and long overdue for return. This was a total delight, clearly very well rehearsed, the eight dancers conveying the atmosphere of the original despite the lack of a stage band. The opening number (Elite Syncopations) set the mood. Presiding over the whole event were Mara Galeazzi and Edward Watson in the roles originally danced by Merle Park and Donald MacLeary.

The sweethearts (The Golden Hours) – originally Jennifer Penney and David Wall – were Natasha Oughtred and Ernst Meisner. Natasha was rather swamped by a massive curly wig, but responded attentively and cosily to her partner. Ernst Meisner was a revelation, strutting around like the cock of the walk, grinding his legs powerfully into the ground, adopting tough grimaces as he interacted with his partner, clearly ready to challenge Edward Watson as the leader of the gang in a couple of years’ time (and so reminiscent of David Wall standing up to Donald MacLeary), but equally enjoying the flirtation with his girl.

Deirdre Chapman danced the Calliope Rag, one of the MacMillan roles most closely associated with Monica Mason, with the famous bottom wiggle. Deirdre is such a strong performer, catching all the control and focussed attention of the role, but not quite milking all the humour.

Christina Arestis and James Wilkie danced the “tall and short” pas de deux (The Alaskan Rag). James Wilkie was the second revelation of Elite Syncopations. Overcoming his shyness to ask Christina for the dance, ardent, determined, passionate, besotted with his partner, he put in 110% of effort with his unwieldy girl. Christina was a mixture of studied surprise and grim determination. Vergie Derman and Wayne Sleep used to leave them rocking in the aisles, but Christina and James came a close second. The moment when James picked up Christina awkwardly and determinedly forced her dangling leg through his arms and into position brought the house down.

The Bethena Waltz was danced by Mara and Edward Watson (as described above); then the finale (Cataract Rag) led to a deserved ovation for the whole evening.

Artistically the evening was of a high standard and very well rehearsed. I understand that Christopher Carr, Monica Mason and Monica Parker had put in considerable rehearsal time in the studio (unpaid and unacknowledged), but clearly paying dividends on stage and a tribute to the professionalism and dedication of Royal Ballet teachers and dancers alike. Despite the title of the show, the programme made no mention whatsoever of Monica Mason.

The audience and dancers must be grateful to Mara Galeazzi for her leadership and versatility in guiding the performance and presenting herself in such contrasting performances, but also for giving young dancers the chance to step outside the corps de ballet and rise to the challenges of technique and interpretation in soloist roles, an opportunity which they grasped with both hands and both feet!