B and I share a love for the ballet, though I have to admit to being less well-informed and less adventurous in my choices compared to her. I started going to Royal Ballet productions on weekend trips to London whilst at boarding school and university. Now that I am living in London, and working close to Covent Garden, it is far more difficult to resist attending several performances each season. A good production captures the imagination and draws you into a world of beauty, comedy and tragedy
Two productions stood out for me this spring – Kenneth Macmillan’s Romeo & Juliet and Frederick Ashton’s La fille mal gardee.
Romeo & Juliet, as choreographed by Sir Kenneth Macmillan, is my favourite ballet and I have seen it staged by the RB for the last three seasons. Stereotypes of traditional ballet are few; Romeo, for example appears far more frequently than Juliet does, there are no scenes with the corps de ballet in tutus, no scene added merely to show off the technical virtuosity of the dancers. Prokofiev’s score is a lyrical masterpiece which stays in one’s mind; I once found myself humming excerpts for a week after a performance.
The story, well-known to most, reaches a level of intensity with the dancers I have rarely seen even in stage performances of Shakespeare’s play. Macmillan gave his characters passion and headstrong recklessness; they appear to have no thought of consequences.
My favourite Juliet, Tamara Rojo, starred in this year’s production; she was a marvel to watch and utterly convincing as a 14-year old sheltered girl suddenly exposed to the violence of first love. Small movements in her arms and turns of her head alternately convey self-consciousness, sexual curiosity and a youthful urge to please. Her moments of despair at being forced to marry Paris and at seeing Romeo dead were heartrending.
Rupert Pennefather partnered Rojo as Romeo this year – he was, I felt, unnecessarily panned in the press for lacking the vitality and technique of the injured Carlos Acosta. True, he did not appear very confident in his many solos, nor was there much chemistry with Rojo but for all that, he made a decent hero on stage.
Youtube has several clips of the 2007 production with the Rojo-Acosta casting – the famous balcony pas de deux can be found here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGTNHHekn98.
La fille mal gardee was a different sort of performance altogether. Choreographed by Frederick Ashton at the height of his powers in 1959, it has remained a perpetual favourite with the RB and it is not difficult to see why. Watching La fille mal gardee is like drinking from a never-ending bucket of champagne – one gets a little light-headed with the buzz and cannot help smiling and laughing out loud at odd places.
Like Romeo and Juliet, it features a couple facing obstables in love but unlike the former, it is a romantic comedy set in simple countryside with a happy ending, loveable characters and no real villains. One adores the lovely Lise (the daughter of the Widow Simone and “la fille” of the title) for her simple grace and her very human wish to be with her beloved farmer Colas instead of the well-off halfwit Alain. The dancers seemed to really enjoy themselves in this ballet; there is a sparkle in their steps which is a joy to observe.
The Widow Simone (traditionally portrayed by a man) and Alain are two of the funniest characters I have seen in ballet; the former pompous and vain, the other a shy nitwit who nonetheless craves attention. Widow Simone’s clog dance is wonderfully upbeat and quite hilarious, and the first to feature ballerinas en pointe with clog shoes – you can find it on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMn2TuvW_M8
The Royal Ballet is putting up more modern ballets this spring which I sadly cannot make due to work and social commitments. By chance however, a friend offered me a ticket to an upcoming performance of Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella before the RB goes on tour this summer and of course, I could not resist…
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