THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London EC1R 4TN, until March 10, 2024
Visits by the acclaimed New York City Ballet to London are all too rare, the last was in 2008, but they’ve landed in Sadler’s Wells with a mixed bill that really shows off their versatility.
Founded by George Balanchine himself in 1948 they’re known for their speed and musicality, and embody a contemporary style which has been much copied. Balanchine’s own Duo Concertant was one of the four pieces presented. A work for two dancers and an onstage pianist and violinist, set to the music of Igor Stravinsky, it was created in 1972 and provided a reminder of just what a revolutionary master he was. Star of the company Megan Fairchild and Anthony Huxley give an object lesson in Balanchine style. Stravinsky’s music is so perfectly well matched here, it illuminates the sculptural formalism of Balanchine but also the barn-dance jauntiness of the lighter passages.
The opener, the European premiere of Justin Peck’s Rotunda, was the weakest of the four. Featuring an ensemble of 12 and with a commissioned score from Nico Muhly, perhaps America’s hottest all-round contemporary composer, it was deftly played here by the Britten Sinfonia. Peck, who is NYCB’s Resident Choreographer, has created more than 20 works for them and in his “spare” time has done Broadway and movies, including Spielberg’s West Side Story (2022). This piece never took fire really, until the end when it was redeemed by a wonderfully tender duo from Fairchild (again) and Gilbert Bolden III and a dazzling solo from Daniel Ulbricht, a real star, whose assurance, ease and command of the stage are totally captivating. The dancers elevated the piece.
Then there was Pam Tanowitz’s Gustave Le Gray No.1 set to Caroline Shaw’s piano composition featuring four dancers in stunning scarlet outfits (by Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung). They interact with an onstage pianist, Stephen Gosling, playing the score. At one stage they move him and his piano the full width of the stage while he doesn’t miss a note. Tanowitz has an unflinching post-modern style but her moves and costumes here have echoes of Martha Graham. Again, Shaw’s score is a perfect match for dance. She is less well known here but not for long as she’s had commissions recently from Royal Ballet and the Barbican.
They saved the best to last with Love Letter (on shuffle) by Kyle Abraham, set to the music of London singer/songwriter/producer James Blake, with lavish costumes by British fashion designer Giles Deacon. Blake’s dramatic songs lend themselves to dance so well, as ENB demonstrated when they got William Forsythe to stage a ballet based on the hit album The Colour in Anything.
Abraham is one of the most interesting choreographers around nowadays and has worked with Blake before at Alvin Ailey and Royal Ballet. Blakes’ songs, often melancholic, might feel at first hearing too suffused in Millennial angst for dance, but there’s an intensely rhythmic undercurrent to them which bubbles up and infuses the dances with hope and even joy. There are sections, too, awash with electronic dance rhythms. Deacon’s costumes are an exquisite melange of 19th century harlequins, ballerinas in aged tulle and striking native American Mohican headdresses. It ends with an incredibly tender male duo where Taylor Stanley and Jules Mabie shine.
In all, this is a great sampling of a great company.
