Dance
The MacMillan Inheritance (Royal Opera House)
Celebrating MacMillan
Giannandrea Poesio
The MacMillan Inheritance, the Royal Ballet's new triple bill, is a superb and long-needed reminder of the choreogra- pher's versatile genius. The debatable artis- tic policies pursued by most ballet companies, which have insisted on restag- ing only a small selection of MacMillan's choreography, have affected considerably the way his contribution to 20th-century ballet is thought of today. Consequently, those who did not grow up with the MacMillan repertoire and have not had a chance of broadening their knowledge of his oeuvre tend to associate his name most- ly, if not exclusively, with narrative ballets, whether in the form of full-evening ones or of powerful dance dramas in one act. The artistic and historical significance, however, of works such as Romeo and Juliet, Manon, Anastasia, The Prince of the Pagodas, The Invitation, Las Hermanas and Winter Dreams cannot be overlooked. But a deep and thorough understanding of MacMillan's art cannot rely solely on these titles, for his oeuvre also encompasses a great many metaphorical and plotless bal- lets. And it is in these works, namely within a context where the search for a narrative meaning does not impinge on the apprecia- tion of the choreographic components, that the uniqueness of his creativity particularly stands out.
Not unlike English National Ballet's recent successful restaging of MacMillan's The Rite of Spring, this new triple bill is aimed at both a kind of choreographic rediscovery and a celebration of what once was internationally acclaimed as 'British ballet choreography'. It is also a thoroughly enjoyable programine, and is very well structured. Concerto, the opening item, is one of MacMillan's more abstract works, where the focus is on neo-classical, pure dance imagery. Created in 1966 in Berlin, the work is a tribute to the art of ballet and in particular to its distinctive idiom, as indi- cated by the numerous and often humor- ous brief quotations from the 19th-century repertoire that punctuate the first move- ment, and by the central duet, allegedly inspired by the exercises performed by Lynn Seymour — the first interpreter during her daily class. Still, neither the sub- tly selected choreographic references, nor the choreographic translation of a daily set of preparatory movements — two ideas which, although innovative in the Sixties, have since been used to exhaustion detract from the freshness of the work; it retains an incredible aura of modernity. The use of the Shostakovich score, translat- ed into a legible, yet breathtakingly uncon- ventional choreographic chiaroscuro, has stood the test of time and comes across as an intriguing game of choreographic and musical juxtapositions.
A ballet that looks slightly dated is Ritu- als. Created in 1975, the work is symp- tomatic of the Eastern culture trend that influenced and inspired many a choreogra- pher in the mid-Seventies. As such it suf- fers from what looks nowadays as rather stereotypical local colour, which gets too much in the way. This is a pity, for the movement vocabulary that characterises each of the three scenes of the ballet is, in typical MacMillan style, richly varied and theatrically powerful.
The programme ends triumphantly with Gloria (1980), one of MacMillan's indis- putable masterworks, a non-sentimental metaphorical look at the waste of young lives during the first world war, inspired by Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth. On the night I went, the corps de ballet and the three leading dancers, Leanne Benjamin, Jonathan Cope and Christopher Saunders, danced splendidly, thus showing a perfect awareness of the technical/interpretative demands of MacMillan's choreography.
Unfortunately, with the exception of the `We look utterly ridiculous! These dresses went out in the Seventies.' stylistically breathtaking performance of Mara Galeazzi in the central duet of Con- certo, the rendition of the other two ballets did not match that of Gloria, and I think that some work is needed to make those dancing understand that there is more to a MacMillan ballet than just a competent execution of the steps.
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