In her last season as director of the Royal Ballet, Dame Monica Mason has chosen this programme to highlight the influence of three British choreographers crucial to the history of the company. Resident choreographer Wayne McGregor’s Limen, premiered in 2009, exemplifies what he describes in the programme as postmodern dance. Dressed only in minimal flesh coloured trunks and leotards, the dancers display both the simplicity and complexity of classical ballet, Sarah Lamb and Eric Underwood showing the beauty of light and dark skins blending together in McGregor’s sinuous and moving pas de deux.
The central work is a revival of Ashton’s 1963 Marguerite and Armand, created for Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev at the height of Rudi mania. The ballet remained exclusively part of the Fonteyn/Nureyev legend until 2000, when it was restaged for Sylvie Guillem and Nicholas Le Riche. The current partnership of Tamara Rojo and Sergei Polunin is uncannily similar to the original both in appearance and the age difference between the mature ballerina and the young Russian. Rojo is exquisite, my favourite among the company’s principals, and Polunin a phenomenon, promoted to principal in 2010 aged only 21. There were cheers at the end, but no torrents of flowers flung on to the stage. Times have changed.
Finally, Kenneth MacMillan’s anguished Requiem, made in 1976 as a memorial for his friend John Cranko, is a masterpiece of choreography, superbly danced by the entire company led by Lauren Cuthbertson, Federico Bonelli and Steven McRae. The intricacy and drama of MacMillan’s work and Faure’s inspiring music, memorably performed by the Royal Opera Chorus, add up to a rare theatrical experience.
The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, October 8-20
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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