The Royal Ballet Triple Bill Review

The Royal Ballet’s first mixed bill of the season pays tribute to the wide repertoire the company continues to boast. The bill's plethora of solo roles are a treat for rising and established dancers.

Opening the evening is Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s 1966 Concerto. Set to Shostakovich’s music, this 30-minute plotless piece is full of classroom steps, but the bright costumes and lights only highlight flaws (if you can see them through squinted eyes).

Its first movement features a central couple, supported by six soloists and a small corps. In their débuts, Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé tackle the roles admirably. On several occasions, though, O’Sullivan disrupts her lines with broken wrists, but for her gorgeous footwork, I will forgive her in this instance.

While Sambé and O’Sullivan are dreamy dancers, there is a spark missing in their partnership. Alongside Francesca Hayward (débuting in O’Sullivan’s part this Friday) Sambé is on top form—True chemistry and a tangible dynamic are ever-present when they share the stage. I know I am not the only one waiting with bated breath for them to be cast together again.

Lauren Cuthbertson dances the second movement, smartly partnered with Reece Clarke. MacMillan, inspired by Lynn Seymour on the barre, uses the male as a support for his ballerina. Cuthbertson takes the first motions, and delivers them with generous upper body and port de bras. Sadly, as she moved toward the off-weight balances and promenades, she loses this generosity and is too careful in some of the pas de deux’s most gorgeous moments.

Fumi Kankeo is a revelation in the third movement—It is as though she herself is conducting the orchestra. She flies across the stage in high jumps and teases with slow her double turns, ending the performance with an unwavering triple pirouette.

All in all, Concerto may be a challenge to dance, but it isn't a piece I would willingly watch again...

Enigma Variations by Sir Frederick Ashton turns music to movement Edward Elgar’s score of the same name—or at least, it attempts to do so.

Hayward steals the night in her début as Dora Penny (Dorabella). She proves herself, once again, an ideal Ashtonian ballerina—sacrificing big jumps and high extensions for musicality and nimble footwork.

Alas, the most rewarding part of this piece remains the music—funny variations, such as Luca Acri débuting as George Robertson Sinclair (or rather, his dog), are a nod to Ashton’s musical genius, but as a ballet, it never bears the fruits I wish it would.

The bill ends with a celebration of classical ballet with Raymonda Act III. The audience rightly applauded as the curtains revealed an opulent set and dancers duly dressed for the occasion.

Of the four solos, Mayara Magri’s is the only one rich with meaning and technical prowess as she revels in Alexander Glazunov’s music. Magri is one to watch—Everything, from her épaulement to her infectious smile, commands the stage with certainty.

As the title character, Sarah Lamb delivers an exemplary Claque variation—This fiendishly difficult solo is full of bourrées, and the ballerina hardly ever comes off pointe. Lamb is sure-footed, never wavering—She floats effortlessly across the stage. Vadim Muntagirov as Jean De Brienne draws gasps in his gravity-defying jumps and his pure, unmatched technique.

With variation after variation, Raymonda is one that classical ballet lovers are sure to love.

A night eager for improvement, I give this bill 3/5.