I was very much looking forward to this performance and maybe it was not such a good idea to go see it just days after attending the Sylvie Guillem show, but I am afraid I was not as amazed as I expected to be.  I had been highly impressed by Amelia in the past but this New Work was just a bit too hectic to watch.  It had its moments of pas de deux delights and wonderful male dancing sections, but most of the time was just not being able to appreciate the intricate fast movement and the lighting did not help at all.  Maybe with different lighting and somewhat shorter in length would have been more pleasant to the eye.  Also, we were hoping to see Diana Vishneva perform in this work as it had been previously advertised, since it would have been very interesting to see her move in this vocabulary. However, the live music was brilliant and my hat goes out to the dancers who kept going and going and going.

Join me next time as I attend the Royal Opera House to see the Royal Ballet ‘s first mixed programme of the Season: Limen/Marguerite and Armand/Requiem.

See you soon!

I must say that this was such a delightful evening for me given that not only it was the second time I had the opportunity of seeing ballerina legend Sylvie Guillem live on stage; but this time performing contemporary work by the great William Forsythe and Mats Ek.  In addition, the unexpected highlight of my evening: 27’52” by Jirí Kylián performed by Aurélie Cayla and Kenta Kojiri.

Rearray by William Forsythe reunited the choreographer and the dancer into an evolution of their prior work together decades ago In the Middle Somewhat Elevated.  Although there were still dashes of beautiful lines present in the piece; it was highly characterized by the intellectual work that Forsythe is known by, and the lighting was just perfect.

27’52” by Jirí Kylián kept the audience glued to the stage.  Effortless contemporary movement from the dancers combined with intrigue of what will happen next prevented me from blinking the whole time.  At least, that is what it felt like. Watching NDT dancers perform is always a joy for me.

Finally, Mats Ek’s Bye, a very clever piece combining and unifying a Sylvie Guillem solo and film, was what maintained the audience applause for many curtain calls at the end of the show.