If, when you think of English National Ballet, The Nutcracker springs to mind that wouldn’t be surprising – it was, after all, the Christmas show par excellence at the Coliseum last year. But there’s an awful lot more to this company than simply reprising much-loved classics. Under the inspired leadership of former Royal Ballet dancer, Tamara Rojo, there were 10 years of choreographic exploration and not a few risks that paid out spectacularly (notably Akram Khan’s reinvention of Giselle).
Aaron S Watkin is now in charge and he’s proving to be as keen as his predecessor on pushing this very fine company in new and challenging directions. This was most certainly on display at the opening night of Body and Soul, a double bill with nary a pointe shoe in sight. This is not to say that Crystal Pite’s opening Body and Soul (Part I) forgoes all classical technique. It is, rather, hidden at times beneath greatcoats and the forceful French voice of Marina Hands who seems at first to be instructing the dancers how to move their feet – “gauche droite gauche droite gauche” – and bodies “tête a tête, tête contre poitrine, tête dans les mains”.
Haruhi Otani and Ashley Coupal in Crystal Pite’s Body and Soul (Part 1)
Are the dancers her mere puppets? Are we in a choreographed Beckettian landscape? Lit from above (the lighting throughout, incidentally, by Joshie Harriette is marvellous) and dressed entirely in black, the dancers’ faces in the opening scene are the very picture of bleakness and disconnect. As the piece moves on, though, the same vocal backdrop is reinterpreted by the dancers: there are fights and struggles, silent screams, partnerships, passion, love. There are moments you might be in a Jane Austen ball, another where starkly lit hands tell a story and there’s one remarkable scene where the dancers become the sea. Pite is a powerful choreographer and this is a hypnotic, profound piece though we see only the first part here. What a pity we didn’t get the whole 100 minutes.
The second piece is Kameron N Saunders’ Proper Conduct created for the ENB and with the choreographer properly in place for its premiere bedecked in a sparkly scarlet coat with epaulettes that wouldn’t be out of place on a pagoda. This love of colour is much in evidence in the first scene of this piece, a rather joyous, pastoral coming-together that had echoes of a simplistic version of Copeland’s Appalachian Spring. This carefree barn dance atmosphere, though, comes to an abrupt close and the piece gets very dark, very quickly.
English National Ballet in Kameron N. Saunders’s Proper Conduct
In the second act, the colour fades, the smiling dancers become almost faceless and the hazmat-clad MC (a brilliant Jose Maria Lorca Menchón) taunts the audience through the kind of distorted voice you might expect in a horror film, “Now, wasn’t that nice?” Not for long – instead, we’re in a new world of despair. We seem to have gone from Blake’s Innocence straight into the worst kind of Experience. On the positive side, there are some stunning tableaux, double-height dancers, more white hazmat suits and masks, and it is often a feast for the eyes. Not enough, perhaps, to balance its rather preachy tone.
The company was as remarkable as ever and able to rise to every challenge thrown at them. It’s going to be interesting to watch their direction over the coming months and years – but, for me, next time I’d recommend Pite’s full-length Body and Soul.
Body and Soul is on at Sadlers Wells until 28th March. For more information, including performance times, and for bookings, please visit www.sadlerswells.com.
