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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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Royal
Opera House
Royal
Ballet
5
- 22 March 2007 |
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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 dÈcor 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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