Birmingham Royal Ballet – a limited engagement

When the Birmingham ballet came to Nottingham they treated us to not one, not two, but three shows in one. This obviously was a great selling point as the theatre was packed with an eclectic audience of all ages. It was a true delight to see little girls in their ballerina dresses looking like they were going to burst with excitement. In the stalls there was a school trip, of what must have been a primary school and even the little lads looked thrilled to be there, bouncing in the seats waiting for it to begin

To add to the build up the live orchestra, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, struck up, it always makes such a difference to a performance when it is accompanied by real people playing the music right in front of the audience I think, it adds an extra ambience. Then the lights dimmed, the composer bowed and a beautiful happy set of a sun appeared, swiftly followed by an array of beautiful colourful polka dot ballerinas and striped men in the seemingly obligatory package hugging tights. LES RENDEZVOUS was the first lively performance where the guys were trying to impress the girls in the park; the grace of all the dancers combined with the impeccable timing to the music was so mesmerizing to watch. Even to amateur it was clear to see the strength and skill ,involved in some of the more technical moves, the girls reminded me of a ballerina in a music box, so perfect was the synchronicity in the way they moved their bodies; it wasn’t just the girls that shine though, at one stage their were 10 boys dancing in perfect unison.

As there were 3 performances to fit in to one night, the interval came early and there was an excited buzz; 20 minutes or so later it began again and the mood had changed. The orchestra struck up a haunting sound as the curtain raised to reveal a rather ominous start, the dancers were in silhouette against a grey background. For KIN the tone had changed from joyful to dramatic, it felt like contemporary performance art. The black adorned dancers slowly abandoned the main protagonist to shine in the spotlight. It left me feeling a bit conflicted and moving fate the previous performance; it is amazing that dance can be so evocative.

For the final part of the evening the audience were back to their seats eagerly waiting, no idea the treat that we were all in for. when the music started and it was revealed that the musicians, Scott Joplin and contemporaries, had dressed up and were on the back of the stage playing a rag-time band, with everyone (including the dancers) wearing circus style outfits. ELITE SYNCOPATIONS was a comical twist to the evening the lads were smoking onstage, there was the “clown” trying to join in the dancing but pretending not to be able, which must be much harder than it looked. Everyone had a good laugh for the final circus dance off, on stage and in the audience, everyone got their moment in the limelight. The highlight for me was when the prima ballerina took to the stage and did a very sexy dance and the “clown” pretended he had to cross his legs!