★★★★☆The latest programme from English National Ballet spotlights two septuagenarian master choreographers: Mats Ek, who favours narrative dances told from startlingly unconventional angles, and William Forsythe, a fearless experimentalist who can’t help but push ballet into new directions. Their accomplished works bookend a slighter piece by the ENB dancer and talented associate choreographer Stina Quagebeur.
Premiered at the Paris Opera Ballet in 2016, Forsythe’s Blake Works I entered ENB’s repertory in spring this year. Shifting between anxiously passionate duets full of gestural filigree and big ensemble sections offering a surfeit of virtuosity, this spectacular yet tender curtain-raiser is pinned to seven tracks by the English singer-songwriter James Blake. It is a dazzling example of Forsythe’s adeptness at simultaneously respecting and playing with classical form.
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