West Australian Ballet
and Guest Artists
GALA
His Majesty’s Theatre
Perth, November, 2010
FORTY years ago, the West Australian Ballet (WAB) became the state ballet company and this gala was a celebration of this milestone. While the selection of works felt oddly eclectic, visiting artists from the Royal Ballet (RB), the Australian Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet ensured that there was plenty of excitement in the evening. The artists of WAB rose to the occasion, giving performances that sat comfortably alongside those of the eminent visitors.
Opening the evening was Kim David McCarthy’s 19, a neoclassical, ensemble work set to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.19. McCarthy describes 19 as a celebration of the life of a friend, and the work seemed to celebrate WAB in this context. The pas de deux in the first and third movements are playful – the female dancers swing up and around their partners like horses on a merry-go-round. There are moments of light humour – an enchainment of crisp fouettes paired with a little hip wiggling hints at disco, an arabesque makes a fleeting but exaggerated allusion to Swan Lake. The ever-engaging Jayne Smeulders was a winner in this ballet, with her uncanny ability to marry comedy and grace. Young Sarah Sutcliffe was also notable, soaring over the head of her excellent partner, Yann Laine.
The second movement provided a moodier contrast to the first and third. Darkly elegant, the dancers appeared to be swimming in a pool of light centre stage, as the chiffon of the females’ skirts rippled in the light.
19 dragged towards the end, especially with the knowledge that there were still five pas de deuxs and a solo before interval. However, what treats were in store! The sublime presence of Australian RB principal Leanne Benjamin, partnered by fellow principal, Edward Watson, was an absolute highlight. Performing the Balcony pas de deux from MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, Benjamin and Watson were eloquence itself. From Benjamin’s exquisitely light pointe work to Watson’s boyishly triumphant last grin, this pas de deux showed Perth audiences what makes a RB star. The pair also performed a pas de deux from Wayne McGregor’s Qualia, wowing the audience with their snappy muscularity and glorious leg extensions.
It is hard to imagine that anything could top these two but Lana Jones and Daniel Gaudiello, senior artists of the AB, came close with their demonstration of Victor Gsovsky’s Grand Pas Classique. Gaudiello’s trampoline-like entrechat series was a triumph of technical mastery. Similarly Jones’s releve series appeared effortless, her final developpes a la seconde calm yet exhilarating. The pair’s pirouettes were breath-taking in their execution; the performance as a whole a delight.
With two more pas de deuxs from John Cranko’s Légende and Onegin, by principal dancers of Stuttgart Balllet, Sue Jin Kangand Jason Reilly, and a solo excerpt from Munaldjali (Stephen Page) by Jayne Smeulders, the first half started to feel long, in spite of the high standard of all performances. The WAB dancers had their work cut out engaging punters in the second half.
Uwe Scholz’s Seventh Symphony, an ensemble work set to Beethoven’s Symphony No 7 in A Major, is not the ideal piece to end a long program, in that it is relatively repetitive. As though inspired by the standard of the visiting artists, however, the WAB dancers gave an impressive rendition of this work. With its numerous fouettes, pirouettes and grande jetes performed in unison, Seventh Symphony relies heavily on absolute perfection in timing and execution. The dancers met the challenge with an aplomb worthy of a company celebrating 40 years as the state’s flagship company.
Mention must be made of newly appointed leading artist Yu Takayama, whose crisp, neat style was beautifully suited to the clean lines of Scholz’s choreography.
WAB’s “Gala” provided fans with a true smorgasboard of dance treats, and, although a little too filling, the highlights will sustain the audience’s memories for many a year.
– NINA LEVY