Two years ago, the Royal Ballet's demon virtuoso, Tetsuya Kumakawa, deserted London in search of dizzier levels of superstardom in his native Japan. He formed a touring company, K Ballet, with a group of other disaffected Royal dancers, and is now apparently trailed everywhere by a besotted fan club. This Christmas, "Teddy" is back in London for the first time, dancing in The Nutcracker with another ex-Royal principal, Viviana Durante.
There may, perhaps, be a mischievous subtext to this visit, since they are guesting with English National Ballet, down the road from the Opera House, rather than with their alma mater. But fans of both dancers might have preferred to see them coming home in a more substantial piece.
In any Nutcracker production, the Sugar Plum Fairy and her prince are not on stage for long, but they are usually the emotional heart of the story - the magical role models of little Clara's dawning adult consciousness. In Derek Deane's staging, however, their dramatic focus is usurped by an especially vain and bossy Drosselmeyer (danced by Deane) who takes ostentatious control of the whole ballet, except for the fairy couple's final, grand pas de deux.
We thus get only a superficial viewing of the two stars, although, since Kumakawa has an even bigger stage ego than Dean, he is almost comically assiduous in his attempts to rout the latter from the limelight whenever possible. From the moment he appears, he makes every step as big, glossy and fast as possible, embroidering his jumps with a dazzle of aerial display and sending sparks from his careening pirouettes.
It's always fun to see dancing like this, but I missed the cocky devil that used to rattle around Kumakawa's performances. In the past he often seemed like a crazy kid pushing himself to the limits, even if it meant vandalising the show around him. Now there's something automatic, even detached, about his virtuosity. He looks as if he has become bored with himself and his audience, since his move to Japan.
Certainly his absence from the Royal has done nothing for his partnering skills, which are even sloppier than they used to be. This proved a liability for Durante, who appeared brittle with nerves. She can be an intensely dramatic dancer with a fine-spun lyricism but as the Sugar Plum Fairy she was barely able to sustain a smile and her jumpy, awkward phrasing seemed deaf to the music.
By far the most satisfying performance came from ENB's own Alice Crawford as Clara. Crawford may not be a star but her musically responsive, rounded dancing amplified the choreography to a scale surprisingly grander than her own tiny frame.
The ENB Orchestra, conducted by Anthony Twiner, also played better than I have heard in ages. Tchaikovsky, at least, came off well.
Until January 6. Box office: 020-7632 8300.
