It\u2019s 109 years since the Ballets Russes premiered the Rite of Spring, and the countless versions that have followed over the decades seem to prove that people can\u2019t get enough of ritual sacrifice. At least not when accompanied by Stravinsky\u2019s mighty score. Swedish choreographer Mats Ek made his first Rite back in 1984, but dissatisfied with how it turned out, he\u2019s returned to it nearly 40 years on, creating this world premiere for English National Ballet.<\/p>\n
In Ek\u2019s novel take, the sacrifice in question is a woman being given to an arranged marriage. Rather than the wild extremes that Stravinsky provokes in some (think of the flailing hair and bodies of Pina Bausch\u2019s version, previously danced by this company), Ek\u2019s mood is pared back, contained, repressed in emotion, in great contrast to the pounding of the score. Rather than a mob of dancers, we have four characters \u2013 mother, father, bride, groom \u2013 although when their emotions are heightened it\u2019s done by multiplying the (identically dressed) bodies on stage, rather than increasing the expressiveness of an individual person.<\/p>\n
Ek\u2019s style is expansive but spare, in bold shapes like a linocut (those shapes exaggerated by the elegantly boxy, structured costumes, made of pale pink silk and foam). It\u2019s without sentimentality, but that doesn\u2019t mean it can\u2019t be deeply poignant. Most compelling is the duet between bride (Emily Suzuki) and groom (Fernando Carratal\u00e1 Coloma), a dance full of fear and curiosity, where it feels neither you nor they know where it will end. Suzuki lays herself flat, as if bracing herself, then raises a hand, inviting Coloma. He pulls her up, and lays himself down instead: they are both lost \u2013 wondering what is expected of them, or what they want \u2013 and gingerly finding each other. The narrative thread is not entirely clear, but it\u2019s a striking treatment of the well-worn score and most definitely worth Ek\u2019s revisit.<\/p>\n
William Forsythe\u2019s recent pieces are the work of a man with decades of creative experience, able to work with great clarity and certainty, and transfer those qualities on to eager young bodies. Blake Works I (that\u2019s James Blake, the electronic musician) was made originally for Paris Opera Ballet, a company very uniform in training. ENB\u2019s dancers are much more varied in background, but they present a unity of style with flashes of personality. The choreography is just so damn watchable, combining academic steps and fiddly footwork with dancefloor sass. Its speed and intricacy is thrilling \u2013 Carratal\u00e1 Coloma, Erik Woolhouse and Rhys Antoni Yeomans all of note. This piece is full of virtuosity, but unlike how in classical ballet a dancer announces themselves and prepares for a big finish, here the bravura steps come flowing out in deft streams of movement, much in the way dance music is driven by a constant pulse. Blake\u2019s music is underpinned by melancholy and anxiety, but the movement is light and bright \u2013 a fascinating combination.<\/p>\n
It was always going to be a tall order to be sandwiched between two choreographic masters, but Stina Quagebeur\u2019s Take Five Blues, originally created as a film during lockdown, just about holds its own. It has some of the same casual virtuosity of Forsythe and is also a joyful and faithful response to music, in this case Nigel Kennedy\u2019s free-wheeling takes on Bach and Dave Brubeck, making for a spirited shindig.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sadler\u2019s Wells, LondonMats Ek\u2019s Rite of Spring is a pared back but powerful take on Stravinsky\u2019s mighty score and William Forsythe\u2019s Blake Works 1 is intensely watchableIt\u2019s 109 years since the Ballets Russes premiered the Rite of Spring, and the countless ve\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-14.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":525,"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521\/revisions\/525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}