Danses Concertantes, the unofficial chamber ensemble of New York City Ballet, have always made a point of showcasing the most interesting dancers, and the most interesting small-scale works of their home company. For this London visit the cast - headed by Wendy Whelan, Jock Soto, and Maria Korowski - is certainly up to standard. But the repertory is a disappointingly mixed bag.
By far the best work is Christopher Wheeldon's Liturgy, the latest and possibly the finest of his collaborations with the unique dance partnership of Soto and Whelan. It is set to Arvo Part's Fratres, a dark, spare dialogue between piano and violin that launches the dancers on a tender, troubled and fiercely erotic conversation of their own. Sometimes it is specific images that resonate- Whelan arching her body like a bow and Soto making a motion to pluck her, or Soto pressing his face passionately against Whelan's outstretched leg. But often it is the way these bodies seem to discover their movements together, a spontaneity in the flow and the moulding of the dance that makes this duet so intimate and mysterious. This is a piece that not only encapsulates a stage partnership, it dramatises a love affair
The dynamic of the pas de deux so obsessed George Balanchine in his 1974 duet Variations pour une Porte et un Soupir that it took him into some pretty bizarre terrain. The work takes its title from Pierre Henry's electronic soundscape of creaking doors and breathy sighs, which Balanchine interpreted as an encounter between an imperious siren (Korowski) and a lover (Tom Gold) sighing for admittance to her favour.
It's hard to overstate how odd this looks. Not only does Balanchine portray his dysfunctional couple through an uncharacteristically stark, guttural palette of moves but at the end he plunges them deep into perversity as the woman surrounded in yards of billowing dark silk looks like a black widow poised to devour her suitor.
By comparison both other works appear exemplarily normal, though somewhat bland. Benjamin Millepied's half-hearted essay in ballet minimalism, Circular Motions, lacks the shining self-belief to make its repetitions interesting. Peter Martins' Hallelujah Junction has three principals tracking each other through the dynamics of John Adams' score. It doesn't add up to a lot but the bright, arrowy elegance of the dancers makes it seem to count for more.
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