A pleasingly eclectic three-piece programme opens Northern Ballet Theatre’s 40th anniversary year. Classic ballet, contemporary dance and a revived dance drama, in that order, and all three are tasty.
Yoko Ichinoa’s staging of Petipa’s La Bayadere has pristine detail, purity of expression and enchanting solos from Martha Leebolt as the tragic Nikiya. Some other solos look rather too restrained.
The 16 dancers of the corps de ballet have geometric precision in their lines and groups, making for continuously interesting movement. They look good even when lined up to watch the solos.
Inspired by the Shaker community’s simplicity of outlook, Mark Godden’s Angels in the Architecture has a mood of stirring drama. Using Shaker brooms and chairs, the pairs of dancers work with images from community life and custom. There is practical inventiveness with the props and with long skirts. The dancers sway, whirl and flow with the vitality and purpose of their lives.
The company simply had to include A Simple Man, the fondly remembered LS Lowry piece from the era of Christopher Gable. Back then, it marked a turning point in the company’s development and now it shows how far the NBT has come in terms of dance technique and expression. How enchanting and unattainable Lowry’s imagined girls in red are. How exasperating Lowry is.
The industrial scenes look harsher and the clog dancing steps come straight out of everyday movement, as they should. This is a revival with the dust blown off.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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