Finals

I was at The Four Seasons Centre for the National Ballet's eclectic show. These mix together a bunch of pieces, although sometimes you wonder what the unifying theme is. They don't sell as well as the narrative ballets like Swan Lake and that perennial money-maker The Nutcracker. So although I don't begrudge their house policy, I was amused at my cheap standing-room spot at the back of Ring 3 seeing the empty seats. But I've only been to one show, a contemporary recital, where people were encouraged to move down to the main level from the balcony.

There was no proletariat uprising in Ratmansky's Piano Concerto #1. Accompanied by that eponymous piece by Shostakovich, the dancers moved under a sky hung with red bolts, stars, and hammers (it's not subtle staging). 2 pairs of dancers interacted with the group, sometimes in concert, often in opposition. There was a tone to the group's synchronized leaps and various tableaux that reminded me of the "To the Glorious Future, Comrade" sentiment of Soviet Art. Often, the pairs' choreography are later subsumed and repeated by the collective.

There was nothing subtle either about the use of fencing foils at the start of Kylián's Petite Mort. The program writes coyly about "an allusion" but it was pretty obvious in a piece named after an orgasm euphemism what a group of bare-chested men swinging and playing with swords signified. When their female partners joined, to be encircled and poked by these pointy props, there's no doubt. The pas-de-deux that followed were athletic and sinuous.

The final recital of the evening was Lander's Etudes. It started with rows of dancers at the barre. The stage was dark except for spotlights on their legs as they moved through dance exercises. This theme was repeated as the light came on and a series of mini-pieces played out on stage. Each had groups of dancers move through increasingly difficult techniques (single turns or jumps become double and so on) or choreography culminating with the 3 principal dancers going full-tilt. They were often finally joined by the corps, all executing furious unison dancing. This sort of technically challenging movement, with a hint of spectacle, got huge cheers from the audience. I'd like to see a "sequel" to this 1948 piece that included contemporary movement, perhaps even a (choreographed) "dance-off".