Dance
Ballet Nights
Theatre Royal, Glasgow
Though Ballet Nights was new to Glasgow, for some on-stage it was a bravura return to the home of their previous careers as principals with Scottish Ballet. How wonderful, and profoundly moving, to watch Eve Mutso mark the sadly recent passing of Eleanor Moore - a cherished luminary of Scottish Ballet - with the final solo from Peter Darrell’s Five Ruckert Songs. Mutso’s lissome body - her arms especially - spoke the truth of lyrics that express a poignant mood of acceptance in stepping away from the ‘hurly-burly of the world’.
Wonderful too, to see Sophie Martin - as poised and technically assured as ever - partnered with fellow Ballett am Rhein member Joan Ivars Ribes in On the Nature of Daylight, a duet by David Dawson that catches both the tender calms and dramatic highs of love.
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And wonderful twice over: Constance Devernay-Laurence in Christopher Wheeldon’s I Married Myself - dynamically morphed by her from TV to stage - and in a sassy, sparky extract from Elite Syncopations where her crisp, witty style shone in lively partnership with Kevin Poeung and Tyrone Singleton.
Elsewhere, the Ballet Nights mantra of bringing new works and new names into a framework that encompasses classical and contemporary choreography delivered a programme crammed with wide-ranging audience appeal. Stephen McRae’s solo Czardas - a tremendous whirlwind of tap-dancing that transformed the folklorique divertissement. BLACBRIK - a male duo whose Death of the Bachelors was a sinuous slink of bodies totally in the groove.
Ekleido in Splice - with Hannah Ekholm and Faye Stoeser melding contemporary moves and club/battle styles into sudden hybrid forms. Solos from Caspar Lench and Andrew Cummings, along with an ensemble piece from the Graduating Year (BA Modern Ballet Programme) at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland - they all deserve praise for flying a promising flag for the future of dance.
Curated and compered by Jamiel Devernay- Laurence, this was a triumph for all involved - here’s hoping Ballet Nights adds Glasgow to its touring schedules.
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