Franz, the romantic lead of Coppelia, is dumb enough to fall in love with a clockwork doll. But he also has to be a charmer, and Yosvani Ramos, ENB's promising new dancer, has a grin that could flirt the birds out of the trees. Earlier this season, Cuban-born Ramos was cast as the Nutcracker doll, with his head encased in a huge helmet. But even then his legs looked outstanding, holding long jaunty balances, executing squeakily clean jumps and turns. As Franz, in Ronald Hynd's cheery, long-serving production of Coppelia, Ramos obviously has greater opportunities to show off his technique.
But unlike some, who harden their hearts to everything but their own prowess, Ramos not only looks as if he's dancing for the outrageous fun of it, he also seems to delight in everyone else on stage. He's never out of role for a second, whether he's playing Jack the lad with the village maidens, bumming a drink from his mates or veering between his fiance Swanilda and the mysterious Coppelia.
His excessive high spirits also make Ramos a good foil for Tamara Rojo's Swanilda. Rojo's bouyantly confident technique is ideal for the role but she also has a tendency to lapse into ballerina seriousness, and Ramos keeps the mischief alive between them. The pair are also well served by James Supervia as Dr Coppelius the batty old dollmaker. Supervia's large froggy features (he's played Toad for the RSC) mutate weirdly between the comic and the sinister, while his shambling body language evokes not only the musty tenderness of the old man's heart, but also musty smelliness of his person.
