Apollo
Music
Igor Stravinsky
Choreography
George Balanchine
5 | 10 (mat) March
Carlos Acosta
Darcey Bussell
Mara Galeazzi
Marianela Nuñez
14 | 19 March
Federico Bonelli
Zenaida Yanowsky
Isabel Mcmeekan
Deirdre Chapman
22 March
Carlos Acosta
Darcey Bussell
Mara Galeazzi
Marianela Nuñez
24 March
Ivan Putrov
Alexandra Ansanelli
Lauren Cuthbertson
Christina Elida Salerno
Children of Adam
WORLD PREMIERE
Generously supported by The American Friends of Covent Garden and Marina Hobson mbe (Honorary Benefactor)
Music
Christopher Rouse
Choreography
Alastair Marriott
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Conductor
Barry Wordsworth
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Apollo and
Children of Adam
Royal Opera House
Royal Ballet
5 - 22 March 2007
The Royal Ballet's most recent triple bill begins with Balanchine's and Stravinsky's awe-inspiring Apollo. In a dramatic and beautiful opening scene Leto (Christina Arestis) gives birth to her immortal son, a god in the appropriate form of Carlos Acosta. Apollo courts Calliope, the Muse of epic poetry; Polyhymnia, the Muse of song and mime; and his favourite, Terpsichore, the Muse of dance. Acosta is a dignified and powerful Apollo, Darcy Bussell is equally divine as the teasing Terpsichore. This neoclassical marriage of music and dance is as miraculous today as it was when first performed in 1928.
The combination of Acosta, Bussell, Balanchine and Stravinsky make a hard act to follow. Unfortunately for the world premiere of Alastair Marriott's latest work, it is sandwiched between this and another of Balachine's masterpieces, Themes and Variations. Comparisons of an ungenerous nature almost automatically follow. Inspired by the poems of Walt Whitman, Marriott's "Children of Adam" attempts to tell the fraught tale of Cain and Abel. There are indeed complex elements of human psychology at play in Marriott's telling of the story - jealousy, rivalry, sexual frustration, grief, love and forgiveness - yet its core plot is as basic as the legend of Cain and Abel itself. Because it is as much a drama as a dance, it matters that "Children of Adam" lacks dramatic force; and the choreographic innovation is much less impressive than in Marriott's "Tanglewood". Still, the high quality and fluidity of the dancing goes somew way to redeeming an otherwise disappointing, unsubtle - and at times (as in the tribal orgy) embarrassing - piece.
As the murderous Younger Brother, Steven McRae suffers the hostility and rejection of society and well conveys his character's turmoil. And indeed, Johannes Stepanek and Leanne Benjamin, as the Older Brother and The Girl, dance with an ease and grace that could make anyone mad with jealousy.
The grand climax of the programme, Balanchine's "Theme and Variations" of 1947 (to the finale of Tchaikovsky's Third Orchestral Suite), was welcomed with loud applause even before a single step had been taken - and not without reason: the ballerinas look dazzling in their costumes; and with palatial décor by Peter Farmer to match, the staging was magnificent. Danced for the first time by the Royal Ballet, this was Balanchine's to homage his Russian roots, and what a homage it is. The lovely Alina Cojocaru and Alexandra Ansanelli dance the tremendous score with dream-like self-abandon, while Johan Kobborg responds to it with courage and strength. The result is stunning. Florence Mackenzie
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