Dance
BA Modern Ballet Graduation Performance
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow
Mary Brennan
four stars
The umbrella title of this BA Modern Ballet showcase is ‘graduation performance’ - and indeed we do get to see what those students who are now on the cusp of professional careers have to offer companies at home and abroad. Strong core technique across classical and contemporary styles, certainly. But, equally important, these 3rd Year students already have their own individuality and presence within the moves - and that’s what transforms choreographies, even abstract ones, from just steps into compelling performances.
The beginnings of that learning curve are also on-stage, with Years 1 and 2 joining in the opening piece, La Classe. Fabrice Maufrais has structured the piece - basically a run-through of the daily ballet practice sessions - so as it reflects a dancer’s progression from mastering precise footwork through to the rapport and equilibriums of partnering. It’s a lively warm-up for the audience too, before the programme launches into an entertainingly diverse mix of short pieces, that included Incognito, an edgy take on identity conflicts by Danila Marzilla, currently a Year 2 student. Elsewhere Top Hat, choreographed by Rowan MacGregor, whisks Year 1 and 2 students into the era of Fred and Ginger musicals: they do the mood and the music proud, capturing that just-so ‘swank and strut’ that is the essence of puttin’ on the Ritz.
Two couples from Year 3 - Jake Davies and Anna Williams alongside Keenan Fletcher and Lucy MacPhail - rose confidently to the nuanced challenges of an excerpt from Krzysztof Pastor’s Light and Shadow in which one couple’s classical lines are counterpointed by the other’s contemporary moves, and all in tune with Bach. Composer Philip Glass was the driving energy behind Diana Loosmore’s Within, where the Year 3 graduates tested their strengths in a broodingly intense, clean-limbed contemporary reflection on shifting encounters, sudden interactions and solo moments where sharp reactions and control were strikingly to the fore.
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