{"id":53290,"date":"2021-06-10T06:41:32","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T06:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/?p=53290"},"modified":"2026-04-16T07:29:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T07:29:05","slug":"the-royal-ballet-balanchine-and-robbins-triple-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/the-royal-ballet-balanchine-and-robbins-triple-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"The Royal Ballet, Balanchine and Robbins triple bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apollo<\/em>, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux<\/em>, Dances at a Gathering<\/em><\/p>\n

In the second programme since returning to the Royal Opera House stage, the Royal Ballet treated a live audience to superlative dancing in a triple bill showcasing two of the greatest 20th century choreographers, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins.<\/p>\n

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Vadim Muntagirov, Yasmine Naghdi, Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Mayara Magri in “Apollo” photo by Helen Maybanks ROH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The evening began with Balanchine\u2019s famous Apollo<\/em>. Created in 1928, it is considered to be one of the most challenging male roles in the classical repertoire and in spite of seeing many casts over the years, I believe the first night cast will be a tough one to better. The ballet tells the story of the Greek god of music, Apollo, from his birth through to his ascent to Mount Parnassus. Along his journey, he is enlightened by three muses: Calliope (poetry), Polyhymnia (mime) and Terpsichore (dance and song). Vadim Muntagirov may well have been a Greek god in a former life for he certainly embodied the role with all the necessary attributes to pull this off. His physical beauty and his clear understanding of how he develops from unsteady birth to fully mature god, was very persuasive.\u00a0 While his technical prowess has been well documented, he is finding new depths in his interpretive skills. His muses, Anna Rose O\u2019Sullivan, Mayara Magri and Yasmine Naghdi were similarly impressive and complemented one another.<\/p>\n

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Francesca Hayward and William Bracewell in” Dances at a Gathering” photo by Bill Cooper ROH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If this was an example of purity and understated excellence, Balanchine\u2019s 1960 Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux<\/em> was the antithesis – an object lesson in flamboyant showmanship. In this cast, it was down to Reece Clarke, in a miracle of extra sensory perception, to predict how to partner all the energy and excitement that Natalia Osipova generated. Clarke will no doubt gain confidence with more performances, but this was a grand beginning from him. Technically more than capable, he looks to be a partner of considerable strength and sensitivity. Osipova was in her element, fearless in her attack of every phrase, explosive and unstoppable. If there was an occasional loss of shape or form, she made up for it with her ebullience and risk taking, the power and speed, which were absolutely thrilling.<\/p>\n

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Natalia Ospipova in “Tchaikovsky” Pas de deux photo by Helen Maybanks ROH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the interval, when we had recovered our composure, Robbins\u2019 Dances at a Gathering<\/em> and its wistful, sublime and lyrical choreography, was the perfect way to end the evening. With Robert Clark giving us his usual, consummate rendition of Chopin\u2019s solo piano music, the stage offered up supreme quality from the entire cast. The Royal Ballet boasts a number of first rate casts but as I reported last year, I find myself moved to mention some stand out performances. Laura Morera, dressed in green, has to wait some time before she makes her first entrance but when she does, it is worth every second of anticipation. Every time I watch her do this role, she brings a nuanced freshness to it. However, as is so often the case with her dancing, it is the way she plays with the phrasing that turns the performance from very good to sensational. The other mention must go to William Bracewell, also dressed in green, seen here mostly dancing with the gorgeous Francesca Hayward.<\/p>\n

Bracewell has been deservedly nominated for a Critics\u2019 Circle National Dance Award for this particular role. Amid the roster of wonderful dancers on stage it leaves one even more surprised to note that his distinctive movement style is so eye-catching. He manages such full port de bras, such deep pli\u00e9s and high jumps and all within the context of expressing the music – a massive talent, I can hardly wait to see what\u2019s next for him. Dances at a Gathering<\/em> is just over an hour long – an hour of pure bliss.<\/p>\n

By Deborah Weiss<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apollo, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Dances at a Gathering In the second programme since returning to the Royal Opera House stage, the Royal Ballet treated a live audience to superlative dancing in a triple bill showcasing two of the greatest 20th century choreographers, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. The evening began with Balanchine\u2019s famous Apollo. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":53291,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[256],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performance-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53290"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53298,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53290\/revisions\/53298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}