LAST month, various departments at the Conservatoire – music and technical as well as ballet – joined forces with Glasgow School of Art in a 21st-century hommage to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
The legacy of that collaborative project is Monad, Hubert Essakow's choreography to two short orchestral works by RCS students Jay Capperauld and Hugh Holton.
At Tramway, the dancers shared the space with the orchestra and a framework of striking projections. On the bare stage of the New Atheneum, the choreography came into its own, as did the performances by all three year groups of the BA Modern Ballet course. There's a lot for the young dancers to encompass in terms of style – the first section has whispers of Isadora-like poetics for the girls, the second demands a dynamic angularity and crisp definition from "tribes" within the ensemble while both parts revel in a dramatic use of lifts. The music is complex and intense, likewise the movement. Well worth a second look.
More challenges arrived with Christopher Hampson's Esquisses, a delicious series of solos, duets and ensembles that showcased classic technique and pointework with a fresh touch. Lots of fizz and sparkle from Katie Rodgers and Kate Haughton, gorgeously elegant arm movements from Christine Humbach in the evocatively named Degas solo. Georgia Moffa and Lewis Normand brought poise and serenity to the pas-de-deux while Jamie Haughton's artlessly controlled pliancy – languour, almost – made his male solo a highlight. A dash of contemporary, a glimpse of Balanchine, a flourish of Bournonville – this end-of-year showing ended with everyone kicking up their heels in the Reel from La Sylphide, set to the snap of traditional Scots music. Och aye – just grand.
HHHH
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