The Stage

Agnes Oaks and Thomas Edur - Celebration

Published Monday 2 February 2009 at 13:00 by Kevin Berry

No sadness in this celebration of the partnership of Agnes Oakes and her husband Thomas Edur. Oakes is retiring and that, dear fans, is that. She is ready for the next episode in her life and there are no regrets - “I can’t wait to feel no pain,” she said on film.

Colleagues from the English National Ballet joined the couple on stage in a programme chosen to reflect their 20-year career. The dancing was interspersed with projected photographs and film - images from infancy and ballet school, wedding day videos and reminiscences from the pair when sitting at a dressing room mirror. There were also some revealing comments from Oakes and many examples of Edur’s wry wit.

Edur opened in dynamic fashion as the eponymous Apollo in Balanchine’s cool classic, with Oakes sharp and precise as Terpsichore. Derek Deane’s Impromptu showed more of the couple’s remarkable balance and geometry.

Wayne McGregor’s feisty punk duet 2 Human was an apt choice for contrast - sassy, stroppy and utterly unlike any other piece.

Erina Takahashi and Arionel Vargas excelled in Wayne Eagling’s enthralling Duet and Ben Stevenson’s challenging Three Preludes was given sublime treatment by Begona Cao and Esteban Berlanga.

The grand pas de deux from Act III of The Sleeping Beauty, the celebrating couple’s signature classical role, just had to be the final piece and was danced with the feeling and freshness fans have come to expect.

As Oakes said, in a dressing room mirror moment, “It is nice to leave behind, some kind of history.” It surely is. Bravo to both of them.