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Born in the USA
Moving Stateside
Birmingham Royal Ballet
****
THREE very different pieces and
very
different styles in this
triple bill of American ballets. It
opened with Serenade
with music by Tchaikovsky and choreography by George Balanchine,
followed by Jessica Lang’s Lyric Pieces
with music by Grieg and finally In The
Upper Room, an all-American affair with
music by Philip Glass and choreography by Indiana born Twyla Tharp. Serenade
was Balanchine’s first ballet choreographed in America and it is perhaps
telling that its first performance, in 1934, was by students of the
School of American Ballet for it seems very much like the balletic
equivalent of an etude. An initial corps of 17 look
quite beautiful in the loose, gossamer light, powder blue Karinska
costumes and produce some wonderful patterns around which principal
characters enter and leave. At times it is quite
delightful to watch, graceful and elegant with Elisha Willis, Momoko
Hirata, Céline Gittens, César Morales and Tyrone Singleton, taking the
principal roles. But although it perhaps brings
dance rather than worlds to the music there is a feeling it is a ballet
which puts shape and form above romance and heart to produce a pleasant
rather than memorable ballet. Lyric Pieces
is a collection of 10 short dances which was commissioned by BRB and
International Dance Festival, Birmingham and had its world premiere by
BRB at The Crescent, Birmingham, three years ago. With the Royal Ballet Sinfonia
excused after the opening ballet it was down to pianist Jonathan Higgins
to play this selection of Grieg’s 66 short pieces of the same name.
The fascinating set is created
by molo designs who created a collection of shapes made of black Kraft
paper which range in height from a foot to six foot, which open and
stretch, or close to a solid block like an endless accordion with the
six-footers created almost a castle keep for the opening and closing or
a wall across the rear of the vast Hippodrome stage. It is fascinating to watch the
ever changing shapes and set although that innovation and ever evolving
shape comes at a price in that it can be distracting -and can be heard
opening and closing - so it is easy to find yourself watching the
scenery rather than the dancers. YvetteKnight, YijingZhang,
JennaRoberts, MaureyaLebowitz where the four principal women with
IainMackay, JamesBarton, MathiasDingman, BrandonLawrence the principal
men. Serenade was one story at one
pace while this was 10 chapters with a little bit of humour, different
tempos and different folk tunes to produce a cheerful, light hearted
collection of dances. The final piece, In The
Upper Room, from 1986 is a different animal altogether, first
performed in 1999 by BRB at Saddlers Wells. Glass’s music is incessant and
for the cast of MikiMizutani, ElishaWillis, ChiCao, MomokoHirata,
TyroneSingleton, CélineGittens, AngelaPaul, DeliaMathews, YasuoAtsuji,
SamaraDowns, JamieBond, IainMackay and FeargusCampbell this is not so
much a dance as a marathon. It is danced in a haze of
glycol fog and cones of harsh white light opening with just two dancers
in the Norma Kamali designed costumes of black and white stripes,
gradually red is added until we finally have the women all in red satin
and the men in red trousers or tops as the black and white opening ends
in a sea of red. This is more contemporary
dance rather than the lyrical beauty of classical ballet creating a
breathless finale for both artists and audience. To 21-02-15 Roger Clarke
18-02-15
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