English National Ballet return to Sadler’s Wells with a well balanced programme that would be a wonderful introduction to the range of the last hundred years of choreography to anyone coming to ballet for the first time. As the title suggests, we see innovation and also continuities between one style and another. It is also a fine showcase of the supple skill set of this company at all levels from soloist to corps de ballet.
We begin with Balanchine’s classic Theme and Variations from 1947, which has all the elements of ballet tradition – the contrast between the soloists, semi-soloists and the corps, solo and pas de deux numbers for the male and female principals and music by Tchaikovksy, which if actually not written for dance is pre-eminently suited to accompany it. But while it may be all tutus and tights and glittering suspended chandeliers, the choreography is fearsomely exacting in technique and precision, and there were points, especially in the lifts and holds between the two principals, where there was evidence of frailty, or perhaps lack of rehearsal time. Perhaps it was not wise to place this item first, and it might have fared better later in the evening, once the dancers had warmed up.
No doubts though about the second piece, Errand into the Maze, a classic work of Martha Graham, with all the marks of her signature style, and exquisitely performed by Emily Suzuki and Rentaro Nakaaki. Inspired by the Greek myth of the Minotaur it involved a quest on the part of the woman, both thwarted and fulfilled by a wrestling, entwined engagement with a Minotaur bull figure wearing a yoke and horns inspired by Cretan art. A recreation of the powerful minimalist set by Noguchi and expressionist lighting by Jean Rosenthal adds to the impact of a piece that works as a memorable symbol of yearning and struggle for meaning, whether literal or internal and psychological. Menotti’s music gave it a matching underscore.
Though the briefest work on the programme, Herman Schmerman (Quintet) evoked perhaps the most rousing response on press night. Five dancers take to the stage dressed in orange outfits. Recorded music by Thom Willems starts up of great rhythmic irregularity and shifting beats. You immediately think – how will anyone dance to this? Each plink and blink seems like the aural equivalent of pointillism. But what follows is a miracle of flowing symmetries in which the dancers find solo points and group counterpoints of mesmeric, shimmering precision, and the whole coalesces just as in a Seurat. Once it was over I just wanted to see and hear it again to pick up all the nuances that were passing me by. While wholly abstract, the effect was wholly joyous, like glimpsing a winking, sparkling, frosty landscape in a brief, passing moment of wintry sunshine.
The evening ended in a richly romantic but recent vein with David Dawson’s 2023 setting of Strauss’ Four Last Songs. In advance I was unconvinced that a work of such strong, independent personality had room for a dance embodiment as well. However, I was won over by the carefully calibrated way in which the six principal dancers and their acolytes built up their dance sequences in line with the long-breathed phrases of the voice and the touching way in which they interacted with the singer, almost making contact at times. Each song was independently characterised with waves of criss-crossing lines of dancers and punctuated with ever more inventive lifts, aspiring upwards just as the music hovers on the edge of life reaching towards the possibility of something meaningful beyond the fact of death. Again, artistic parallels came to mind, particularly Poussin’s poised groups of Greek revellers fixed in golden spots of time, akin to Strauss’ golden sunset fade.
The success of this work also relies on the musicians involved. Madeline Pierard gave a ‘peaches and cream’ performance of the solo role, despite having to time things to suit the dancers with no room for spontaneous rubato; and the orchestra also contributed notable solos and a warm penumbra of sound throughout. It is rare now to have a full-size orchestra present rather than recorded sound, and without exception it made a qualitative difference to the overall presence and projection of all three works in which they appeared.
English National Ballet
Ballets by Balanchine, Graham, Forsythe and Dawson
English National Ballet Philharmonic directed by Maria Seletskaya,
Soprano soloist: Madeleine Pierard
Until 11 October 2025
2 hrs 15 mins with intervals
Photo Credit: ASH