Theatre Royal Bath until 20 July
Words by Melissa Blease
Once upon a time in London, a king (in this instance, dancer, teacher and choreographer Harold King, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 70) formed a ballet company. It started out with fewer than 10 dancers giving lunchtime performances in the tiny Arts Theatre, just off Leicester Square. But the company flourished and attracted the patronage of a princess.
Harold’s vision and the Princess of Wales’ stardust combined to jeté the little ballet company into the spotlight on the global stage; for almost two decades, London City Ballet – who, despite their humble beginnings, rapidly earned a rapturous reputation for their high production standards and diverse repertoire – were the talk of the dance-world town, with regular residencies at major venues including Sadler’s Wells and tickets for both national and international tours selling out faster than you can say Taylor Swift.
But while King’s tenacity and the Princess’s patronage attracted the necessary funding to build the company and survive for a further 22 years, unsustainable financial pressures forced the company to close in 1996, a year before Princess Diana’s tragic death; the fairytale had, it seemed, come to an abrupt end.
Little did anybody know, back then, that a knight in shining armour would eventually pick up where the story left off. Last year, it was announced that dance-world luminary Christopher Marney would, as the new Artistic Director of LCB, become the phoenix responsible for rising a UK dance institution from the ashes. Today…
The atmosphere around Bath Theatre Royal is electric. Little girls (and a healthy amount of little boys and grown ups too) are striking Insta-ready ballet poses in front of the posters for Resurgence, LCB’s thrilling comeback programme premiering in Bath before embarking on an ambitious national and international tour. A small crowd has gathered outside the stage door hoping for a glimpse of Álvaro Madrigal, or Isadora Bless, or Joseph Taylor, or any one of the 13 LCB dancers whose status as the hottest dance stars of the day has already been confirmed by dance critics who have yet to even see the full Resurgence programme; exciting times indeed.
LCB are bang on-trend – en pointe, if you will? – when it comes to creating yet more anticipatory drama in the auditorium too: we’re all clutching sleek, chic programmes with minimalistic, glossy white covers, and a cool, pale grey curtain is fluttering softly in the breeze created by a full house taking to their seats. And suddenly, at last,we’re off!
Projections of photographs and newsreels from LCB’s original glory days give context to why we’re all where we are today before the curtain rises on a familiar, classic, trad-ballet scene: tippy-toed girls in frothy white tutus; a coterie of adoring supportive boys being supportive and adoring in perfect harmony.
This is choreographer Ashley Page’s revival of the Larina Waltz, set against one of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s lush, sweeping melodies from his opera Eugene Onegin, itself inspired by Alexander Pushkin’s mid-19th century novel-in-verse. Page’s revival is lyrical verse bought to exquisitely tender life, the beautifully-lit dancers blending ethereal physicality with technical expertise while that music washes over and around us in seductive wave upon wave, lilting, soft, intricate, subtly dramatic and utterly intoxicating – it’s an impactful opener indeed.
Next stop, the revival of former British ballet star and celebrated choreographer Kenneth MacMillan’s one-act ballet Ballade, unseen in Europe for over fifty years. From my interpretation at least, this chamber work, featuring an ensemble cast of just four dancers, reflects the different perspectives from which to consider the vulnerability that lies behind group/couple-relationship dynamics, the complex chemistry of richly detailed, powerfully poignant choreography infusing every moment with layer upon layer of sheer beauty.
There’s Arielle Smith’s Five Dances, too: a magical, ethereally-beautiful work, arresting, compelling, and sensual.
And then, after the interval, Christopher Marney’s very own Eve: a re-telling of the ancient, allegorical tale of Adam and Eve told from Eve’s perspective and focusing on what may have actually driven her actual relationship with the Serpent rather than presenting us with yet another version of the good girl/bad boy pap perpetuated by the patriarchy.
In a style of storytelling clearly inspired by the impact of his experiences with eminent British choreographer Matthew Bourne, Marney gives us a cool, curious Eve (a mesmerising performance from Kate Lyons, who co-staged the dance) and a super-sensual, unapologetically arrogant Serpent (Álvaro Madrigal) to play with. And we all know how that playtime plays out; by the time Eve has joined her charismatic companion on a flight high above the wastelands and battered forests of his bleak kingdom, she can’t resist a taste of his forbidden fruit too.
But there’s strength, wisdom and unswerving self-belief in Marney’s Eve and a hint of gracious gratitude for her companionship in the erstwhile sinister Serpent. Might it be possible, after all, to live in a world where woman are not always to be blamed for sin?
Once upon a time in Bath, we celebrated the rebirth of a legendary UK dance company. Both Harold King and the Queen of Hearts would be so proud of what Christopher Marney has done; one day you too might say that you were so proud to be there at the start of a modern-day UK fairytale.
Main image: Álvaro Madrigal and Ellie Young perform Eve by Choreographer Christopher Marney. Photo by ASH.