RB 'Serenade' reviews 'Serenade' reviews 'Invitation au voyage' reviews Hamilton in reviews Bonelli in reviews recent RB reviews more Carmela reviews Discuss this review (Open for at least 6 months)

As posted on our Postings pages...

One point where she falls down is that she lacks the incredibly clean technique of Nunez. Ansanelli is certainly a very interesting, accomplished and original dancer, but she goes for it so much that sometimes her technique suffers and everything gets a bit "wild". It's a shame, because I enjoy a lot of what she does SO much, but I always find it kind of uncomfortable to watch her... Often she doesn't hit her arabesques, and sometimes her footwork is messy, which is surprising in a Balanchine schooled dancer. At waltz opening with Pennefather she slipped right off pointe, drawing a gasp from the audience. Also, her landings are kind of noisy, which was only underlined by the almost silent landings of Cuthbertson and Galeazzi.

Lauren was really, really on last night - she seemed to almost fly around the stage with her jetes and she just hit and hit and hit. I could have watched her all night! Mara also danced very well, without making such a strong impression as Lauren. Pennefather was quite anonymous last night, a dutiful partner but not much more. Admittedly there's not a lot for him to do, but the rapport and presence he had when he danced with Nunez were lost. Also notable was Alexandra's very spectacular backbend at the closing tableau - amazing!

In L'Invitation, I was once again very impressed by Melissa Hamilton - having seen her in the Insight evening for Infra, she really seems to have a great presence, and definitely a great extension! I'm looking forward to see her in Infra, and hopefully in a few more roles - her dancing really merits it I think. Emma Maguire (who replaced Marianela Nunez who was injured who replaced Alina Cojocaru who was injured, although the cast-cheet didn't say that) and Sergei Polunin danced very well and were very convincing as the "young couple in love", especially Emma. Bethany Keating again was very charismatic and assured in a quite "modern" role, very different from her normal repertory of Neapolitan dances and white cats/Aurora's friends/goats etc. I really think it's time for her to get a bigger role... Titania would have suited her so well...

On a second viewing, I liked the ballet less than on the first viewing. It's a nice idea, but it doesn't quite come off, it's too disjointed and if it were to work, it needs longer than the 24 minutes... Also someone should give Bonelli a medal for agreeing to wear that costume!!!

About Theme and Variations, there's not that much to say except that the general cast was brilliant and Tamara Rojo and Federico Bonelli were truly on top, top form! It was truly a star quality performance and both of them seemed to enjoy it a lot too. I also wanted to mention Eric Underwood, who I notice a lot lately for the complete joy and engagement he shows at all times on stage - even when he is just standing, he looks completely involved and he is just a joy to watch. I didn't think on it much at the time when it happened, but his recent promotion was absolutely and totally deserved.