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A hand to brag about
Birmingham Royal Ballet Birmingham Hippodrome ***** FIRST they are not. Not three of a kind
that is, but are three very different pieces, albeit all from the
twentieth century and all delightfully light hearted. The opening piece is
the evolution of a largely unsuccessful collaboration between composer
Igor Stravinsky and legendary choreographer George Balanchine from 1937.
The piece brings us three deals of five different
dancers representing cards with Elisha Willis Through it all we have Jamie Bond as The Joker who, unlike the original’s malevolent character, infiltrating a serious game, here is just a joker, trying with varying success to work his way into each deal, accepted and discarded as the whim takes the other cards.
There are some lovely touches, such as the fan of
cards at the end of the second deal and clever use of huge cards to
bring dancers on and off stage.
The second hand is another Balanchine piece,
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, this time with music by Richard Rodgers
and its roots are strictly Broadway rather than ballet. The piece comes from Rodgers and Hart’s Broadway
hit musical comedy On Your Toes from 1936 which was originally
conceived as a film starring Fred Astaire. Astaire turned it down as not
fitting his white tie and tails sophisticated image of that time. So it was changed to a stage production and
became the first Broadway musical to incorporate classical dance and
jazz. Slaughter is a short ballet, a climactic scene
within the romantic comedy musical and the story is simple, a hit man
has been hired to kill the star of the ballet which is set in a
speakeasy. The killing, from a box, is timed for when the
star ends the show by pretending to shoot himself but the dancer hears
of the plot and dances on, and on and . . . on until the police grab the
shooter. Tyrone Singleton is the hoofer with a price on
his head while Céline Gittens is sex on long legs as the striptease girl
and their dance together makes sensual look like a tea dance in a
retirement home. The role of hoofer demands the added skill of tap
– remember the part was originally for Astaire – and Singleton does not
disappoint. As a piece of modern dance this is flashy and
pure fun from beginning to end, the magic of Broadway served up as
ballet. The final piece is Elite Syncopations.
That was the
The result is a cheerful, colourful series of fun dances on a largely bare stage with walls and flies exposed and with company pianist Jonathan Higgins and his Ragtime Band, members of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia of course, at the back of the stage, all giving a turn of the 19th century feel.
We saw Jenna Roberts, all stars and stripes in
Stoptime Rag and Angela Paul produces a clever dance to James
Scott’s Calliope Rag while Arancha Baselga and Feargus Campbell
found plenty of fun in Max Morath’s The Golden Hours. Comedy honours though had to go to Yvette Knight
and James Barton in Joseph Francis Lamb’s Alaskan Rag. The
pair produced a dance of pure slapstick exploiting a taller Knight to a
diminutive Barton and some of the most complex entanglements in a pas de
deux you are every likely to see. Joseph Caley, who seems blessed or cursed
depending upon your point of view, to look like the perpetual sixth
former, impressed by showing an ability to walk on his hands in
Hothouse Rag and then produced a confident solo in Donald
Ashwander’s Friday Night. Caley seems to improve and grow in
stature each time he dances. It was not all fun and gaes though; we had a
sentimental dance as well from Jenna Roberts, again, and Yasuo Atsuji,
who seemed to have bagged the biggest hat from wardrobe, in Joplin’s
Bethena Concert Waltz. Three very different pieces united by the kind of
high standards of dance we have come to expect from Birmingham Royal
Ballet. It might not be ballet as people imagine it but
trust me, it is amusing, easy on the eye and deals a winning hand of
dance. Roger Clarke
***** THREE cheers for the BRB after this
spectacular production of Three of a Kind sees the company move away
from the usual classic ballet and deliver a trio of stunning dances
stories with a difference. Each one contains something special, opening with
Card Game in which the dancers in skin-tight ‘onesie’ costumes
emblazoned with hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades can represent s full
house or a royal flush. A King, Queen and Joker also appear and there is
a delightful conclusion with a group fanning out like a skilled card
sharp considering his hand. It is played out to Stravinsky’s music
and John Cranko’s clever choreography. But perhaps the most exciting, sexy offering is
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue which opens in front of a closed curtain with
a 1930s gunman being hired to shoot a night club dancer at the end of
his number, forcing him to dance till he drops after learning of the
plot. Tyrone Singleton excels as the Hoofer with Celine
Gittens giving a sublime performance as the Striptease Girl – a clinging
fishnet body stocking and a body to die for! Choreography is by George
Balanchine. The third and final piece is the extraordinary
Elite Syncopations, choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan, in which a dozen
members of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia appear on stage playing their
instruments, wearing colourful costumes, and beautifully conducted by
Jonathan Higgins at the piano. The dancers, too, wear spectacular costumes for a
range of dances many of which included great humour and emotion. Not to
be missed. Paul Marston
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a coquettish Queen of Hearts among two pairs, tens and sevens. in the
opener while the second dance brings us a flush of hearts then finally
we get Laura Day as the two of diamonds in a busted royal flush of
spades.
name
of a 1902 rag from the King of Ragtime Scott Joplin and in 1974 Royal
Ballet director Kenneth MacMillan created a ballet of the same name
based on tunes, including the title one, by both Joplin and other
similar composers from the era.