 in his pre-show speech, the late Queen Elizabeth II was in attendance. There was no such august personage on this opening night, but the company's sparkling rendition of George Balanchine's Jewels, staged by Sandra Jennings, made you feel as if you were in the presence of dancing royalty. Balanchine's 1967 work, the first three-act abstract ballet (reportedly inspired by the gems of Van Cleef & Arpels, in an early example of product placement), is a crowd-pleasing showcase of bravura technique. Yet it's a tricksy test too: thanks to its enigmatic plotless form, it requires a sizeable injection of personality and performance power. That is somewhat lacking in this account of the Fauré-scored Emeralds. It's a difficult proposition: steeped in lush French Romanticism, but without anything concrete to fuel the corresponding emotion. Though Sharni Spencer and Callum Linnane have a sincere chemistry, a few wobbles undercut the ethereal mood. But, if that combination feels like something of a forced marriage, it's passion all the way with the sparky, adrenalin-spiked Rubies, Balanchine's tribute to New York City's jazz age. A fired-up, hip-thrusting ensemble strikingly embodies the prickly energy of Stravinsky's Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, with pianist Andrew Dunlop supplying excitingly expressive accompaniment. Dynamic duo Ako Kondo and Brett Chynoweth provide a red-hot display, all fizzing turns and a playful pizzazz that cries 'Isn't it fun to be us?'. Wonderful, too, is a bewitching Isobelle Dashwood: four men might be controlling her long limbs, but she has them under her spell. The concluding Diamonds is a crystalline triumph, right from the opening tableau – the dancers hovering like dainty icicles. It evokes the towering elegance of 19th-century Imp){kind=link}
Returning to the ROH, the company’s sparkling take on Balanchine’s ballet makes you feel as if you’re in the presence of dancing royalty
Remarkably, it’s been 35 years since the Australian Ballet last performed at Covent Garden. On that occasion, recalled artistic director David Hallberg (a former American Ballet Theater and Bolshoi principal) in his pre-show speech, the late Queen Elizabeth II was in attendance. There was no such august personage on this opening night, but the company’s sparkling rendition of George Balanchine’s Jewels, staged by Sandra Jennings, made you feel as if you were in the presence of dancing royalty.
Balanchine’s 1967 work, the first three-act abstract ballet (reportedly inspired by the gems of Van Cleef & Arpels, in an early example of product placement), is a crowd-pleasing showcase of bravura technique. Yet it’s a tricksy test too: thanks to its enigmatic plotless form, it requires a sizeable injection of personality and performance power.
That is somewhat lacking in this account of the Faure-scored Emeralds. It’s a difficult proposition: steeped in lush French Romanticism, but without anything concrete to fuel the corresponding emotion. Though Sharni Spencer and Callum Linnane have a sincere chemistry, a few wobbles undercut the ethereal mood.
But, if that combination feels like something of a forced marriage, it’s passion all the way with the sparky, adrenalin-spiked Rubies, Balanchine’s tribute to New York City’s jazz age. A fired-up, hip-thrusting ensemble strikingly embodies the prickly energy of Stravinsky’s Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, with pianist Andrew Dunlop supplying excitingly expressive accompaniment.