Classy, reflective, nicely turned out – Princess Diana brought all these qualities to her patronage of London City Ballet during the 1980s.
The company closed in 1996, but resurrected by new artistic director Christopher Marney after almost 30 years, LCB displays those same attributes. The first programme of its new era is undeniably refined if unadventurous and emotionally a bit samey.
Rather like a theatre company truffling for neglected Pinter or Rattigan, LCB has rummaged through the archives. Marney unearths an all-but-unknown ballet by Kenneth MacMillan.
The creator of the Royal Ballet’s Manon and Romeo and Juliet made Ballade in 1972, inspired by his first date with his future wife, a couple of male friends tagging along.
It’s no revelation, but it’s a winning piece, boosted by guest star Alina Cojocaru. As she and Alejandro Virelles put out feelers, you feel the friendship group shift – Nicholas Vavrecka’s pal is welcoming, but Joseph Taylor frets about being left behind.
Set to Fauré, it’s stippled with poignant moments as the quartet untangle existing threads and find a new weave.
The revived company is also commissioning. It’s a coup to bag Arielle Smith, the fast-rising choreographer working on English National Ballet’s new Nutcracker this winter, but she’s unexpectedly subdued in Five Dances.
Men and women alike wear eye-catching asymmetrical frocks by Emily Noble – we open with Álvaro Madrigal swooshing in hot orange. As John Adams’ score gets groovier, so does Smith’s choreography, arms wheeling or elbowing the air.
The Brazilian dancer Arthur Wille spins at speed, chasing himself across the stage. There’s a sensual tangle for two dancers in sea-green and a dramatic leap of an ending. It’s a nifty, quizzical work that doesn’t quite catch fire.
The show opens with Larina Waltz by Ashley Page from 1993, a sprightly classical warm up to Tchaikovsky. There’s another gulp of MacMillan in a section from Concerto (1966) – Isadora Bless and Taylor are assured in the grave, exposing duet.
Closing the show is Marney’s own Eve from 2022, with Eve and the serpent tussling around temptation. Andy Murrell’s lighting is an asset throughout: here, the cursed apple glows red, wedged in Eve’s mouth like a pig on a platter.
Madrigal’s serpent is figured by a growling cello, and Cira Robinson, until recently Ballet Black’s leading light, is magisterial but pained as Marney’s heroine, queasily preparing to face the world.
A balletgoer who went to sleep in 1996 and woke up this week at Sadler’s Wells would feel pretty much at home. Marney’s dancers are elegant and you can see London City Ballet making friends, especially on tour.
To earn that attention, they need a bit more spark, and an eye for the future as well as the graceful past.
