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Staging a high class attraction Opposites Attract Birmingham Royal Ballet Birmingham Hippodrome **** The Hippodrome's new £1 million stage has
been christened by perhaps the most demanding of the 10,000 or so
musicians and performers who tread its boards each year – the dancers of
Birmingham Royal Ballet. And with
Opposites Attract
BRB has produced a performance worthy of this
latest landmark in the Hippodrome's history with three very different
short ballets opening with Take Five
set to the music of Dave Brubeck. For audience members of a certain age this was a
trip down memory lane with Brubeck's Take Five, along with the likes of
Jacques Loussier and his interpretations of Bach, the epitome of cool
jazz in the black polo neck beatnik days of the early 60s. Carol-Anne Millar was the woman among the four
men, presumably the five, in the opening piece of six short episodes
featuring a cast of ten, with Joseph Caley, who I suspect will always
look like a sixth former allowed to stay up late on a school night by
the head, producing some stunning footwork in Flying Solo. The lad is
coming on, quite literally, in leaps and bounds and manages to catch the
eye whenever he appears. The piece, which was first performed in 2007, was
choreographed by BRB director David Bintley. Lyric Pieces, the second short ballet,
choreographed by Jessica Lang, was commissioned for this year's
International Dance Festival and had its premiere at The Crescent in
May. It comprised 10 short pieces danced to the music of Edvard Grieg
played quite beautifully by pianist Jonathan Higgins. It is rare that ballet plays second fiddle to
scenery but Molo Design have created the most fascinating props seen for
many a year, walls and stools made out of black kraft paper, pleated
like the bellows of an accordion which can expand to 6ft walls covering
half the huge stage or compress to a round stool a foot high. The pieces, changing shape with each piece of
music, deserved applause just as much as the cast of eight. The final set was the most incomprehensible,
Grosse Fuge, set to the music of Beethoven with the full Royal
Ballet Sinfonia under Koen Kessels. Four bare chested men in long black skirts open
the dance with four ballerinas standing in a fragile group at the back
of the vast, empty, dazzling white stage with the only relief a white
linear light slowly rising up the back wall. The piece, choreographed by Hans van Manen, has
sexual overtones and erotic imagery such as when the four women are
lifted holding on to the belts of the men straddling them and there was
a rustle of approval? anticipation? who knows? when the men took off
their skirts to reveal short black trunks in a sort of up-market
Chippendales move. Opposites Attract runs until 29-09-12 with
Swan Lake opening on 02-09-12 and running to 06-09-12. Roger Clarke And attracted opposite . . . ***** WHAT better way to launch the
Hippodrome's expensive new stage than host the BRB with their superb
triple bill which is a visual and musical delight. Perfect timing, you might think, and
the immaculate surface seemed vast due to the lack of scenery as the
dances, Take Five, Lyric Pieces and Grosse Fuge were
performed with mainly the assistance of clever lighting and white
drapes. There was, however, one remarkable exception
when, in Lyric Pieces, the dancers employed what might be called
do-it-yourself scenery - fascinating black pleated 'walls' and 'pillars'
that opened and closed like the bellows of my old granddad's concertina. Smaller pieces of the equipment were even
manipulated around and over the cast as they danced to Grieg's music and
Jessica Lang's choreography. The opening piece, Take Five, was choreographed
by the BRB's director, David Bintley and beautifully danced to Dave
Brubeck's music. The intricate movement of the dancers was a joy for the
large audience. Finally the company staged the hugely impressive
Grosse Fuge, choreographed by Hans van Manen and danced to Beethoven's
music, with the four bare chested men wearing black full-length skirts
and leather belts and four, more traditionally attired, ballerians. In the final scenes of this tastefully sexy
piece, the men discarded their skirts, revealing tight black briefs
beneath, and at one point the girls glided gracefully along clutching
those strong leather belts. Music was provided by the talented Royal Ballet
Sinfonia conducted by Koen Kessels. Opposites Attract runs to Saturday
night (Sep 29), and the BRB then stage Swan Lake at the Hippodrome from
October 2-6. Don't miss it. Paul Marston
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