Programme 1
Square Dance
Choreography
by George Balanchine
Music by
Antonio Vivaldi, Archangelo Corelli
Staged by
Bart Cook
Continuum
Choreography by Christopher
Wheeldon
Music by
Gyorgy Ligeti
Le Carnaval
des Animaux
Choreography by
Alexei Ratmansky
Music by
Camille Saint-Saens
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The San Fransisco Ballet
Programme 1
Sadler's Wells
20 - 25 September 2004
If San Francisco Ballet had any need - which it emphatically does not - to prove to London audiences that it is one of the world's freshest and most talented dance ensembles, this programme would have put the matter beyond doubt. By the breadth, skill and wit of the programming, the superb dancing, and the beautiful design (including costume, most noticeably in the final piece, a comic interpretation of Saint-Saens' 'Le Carnaval des Animaux'), the company produced a memorable night of ballet - sheer pleasure to watch, and as much pleasure to recall.
'Square Dance' is one of Balanchine's most lyrical and delightful pieces. Finely modelled as a pure evocation of the classical ballet vocabulary, it is what one might call 'absolute dance': each note of the music is interpreted into movement, crisp and fluid, demanding (and in the keen energy of this group getting) precise ensemble work. The music (Vivaldi and Corelli at their most characteristic) provides the frame for a delicious silver filigree of dance: sheer enchantment.
The vignettes that constitute 'Continuum' provide the company with an opportunity to demonstrate the range of their talents. These, as the hilarious 'Carnaval' that followed show, include acting as well as dancing ability of a high order. Among so much talent it is invidious to pick out names, but in 'Square Dance' the young Cuban principal Joan Boada and Tina LeBlanc, a mainstay of the San Francisco Ballet for a decade, were outstanding; in 'Continuum' Damian Smith and the superlative talents of Yuan Yuan Tan - a dancer of preternatural flexibility and expressiveness - stood out even in such brilliant company; and in 'Carnaval' Muriel Maffre was a very funny swan, and Lorena Feijoo (another Cuban) was an even funnier elephant - indeed she shows real comic genius.
San Francisco Ballet's visits to London are now a major event in the calendar, and a welcome one. An evening at Sadler's Wells in their company is a guaranteed pleasure: of how many things can that be said?
AC Grayling
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