London’s festive dance will soon go full Nutcracker – but first, let’s have a touch of grief and grown up movement. London City Ballet’s second programme since their renaissance last year is very November – a wintry mix of sombre reflection and sophisticated mischief.
London City Ballet flourished in the 1980s, but although its normcore classical rep won fans – Princess Diana among them – it wasn’t noted for artistic daring. Christopher Marney, the former Matthew Bourne dancer who now directs the revived company, has created a smart new identity: plums from premier league choreographers, rarities by the late and great, new commissions by emerging talent.
Following Ashley Page’s Larina Waltz, a posh bit of partnering to establish that, yes, these dancers certainly can ballet, the other works all register loss and tribute. Jerome Robbins (West Side Story’s exacting creator) made Quiet City in 1986 in memory of a young dancer who had killed himself. Mournfully scored by Aaron Copland, it is led by Cuban dancer Alejandro Virelles, held high by two men who spin in his wake like attendant angels. A wonderfully elastic Virelles seems to grieve the world he leaves behind, taking one last leap to touch the sky before a trumpet plays like the last post.
The evening’s premiere is Soon by Tasha Chu: another Bourne alumna, with a gift for atmosphere and propulsive movement. A young couple (Sahel Flora Pascual and Siméon Sorange-Félicité) get some medical bad news and are swept up by a vigorous, thrashing quartet, dancing to a needling electronic score. Left alone, Gavin Bryars’ looped song, Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet, is the hoarse sound of their fraying resilience. Snapping yet supportive, they console and are literally wrapped up in each other. Chu is one to watch.
Based in New York, Alexei Ratmansky’s inspired work is rarely seen here, so Pictures at an Exhibition is a coup for LCB. Mussorgsky’s piano score was also composed to pay homage, to a painter friend who died young. Ratmanksy doesn’t embrace sadness – he mines the grave and giddy music in a lyrical cascade of invention.
Crammed with riches, it’s relished by LCB’s crack troupe – an engaging blend of established artists and buoyant young talents like Arthur Wille and Lydia Rose Hough. Against projections by Wendall Harrington of Kandinsky’s colourful doughnut circles, the work’s moods and moves change with quicksilver finesse. Sombre formations are undercut by kick and gallop, the piano adding the cheeky agitation of a silent film. We get venturesome women, perplexed men, goblin solos and swooping ensembles: a gallery of delights.
Since making the piece in 2014, Ratmansky has added a last projection. The Ukrainian choreographer inserts his country’s blue and yellow flag: a closing, resolute act of tribute.
