Rambert School Reviews Our Rambert Page

The programme opened with the peasant pdd from Giselle, led sturdily by Utako Shiraishi and Durrell Hammond as Giselle & Albrecht. I say 'sturdily' because Shiraishi's small body is not ideally proportioned for classical ballet; her legs are shorter than one might wish for but her balances, poise and lovely footwork more than made up for this. Her partner, Durrell Hammond, a tallish boy, looked promising but, since he didn't have a solo, it was hard to make a judgement. The corps did as well as they could on the tiny Richmond stage - they managed not to crash into each other, a feat in itself, but the dancing at least seemed neat and precise.

Of the rest of the programme, I particularly enjoyed Kham Halsackda's 'Something Lost' to music by Tracey Chapman. Since I wasn't able to get a programme, I have no idea of who either of them are. However, Halsackda's choreography for five women and two men seemed to me to be refreshingly inventive, with soft body rolls, fluid lifts and intelligent groupings.

Ross McKim, the school's AD, choreographed the lovely 'Simple Gifts' to a suite of songs arranged, played and sung (lustily) by pianist Barry Ganberg. I have seen McKim's work before and it is very much religion-driven. His relgious fervour has worked here, providing four dances - two solos and two group numbers - of real quality. (I got a sense of Paul Taylor's 'Speaking in Tongues'). The solo 'Amazing Grace' showed what a lovely dancer Makie Okabe is (another tiny one), and of note also was Simon Humphrey's solo 'I Wanna be Ready'.

The evening ended with an overly-ambitious attempt at Ashton's Sleeping Beauty Floristan divertissement, which fell at the first fence for me when the girl doing the 'finger-pointing' solo (my favourite) failed to point her finger. They had the costumes, they had the music, they had the smiles, but 'Beauty' is not for students, even senior ones.

Even so, I'd go to see the Rambert students again in a flash. I only hope they will become a regular feature of Richmond's annual 'Leap into Dance' festival.