Chroma received rave reviews at it's first outing, and with such stunning staging, and wonderfully mesmeric music (orchestration of music by the White Stripes), it's easy to see why. And where the dancing works with the music, this piece is stunning, particularly the central pas de deux, danced at this performance by Sarah Lamb and Eric Underwood. On the whole the choreography is just hallmark McGregor - which was interesting when we hadn't seen much from him, but now just feels a bit tired. It felt disjointed at points;any relationship between the dance and the music seemed to have been severed, with bodies scattered round the stage, often with little connection between dancers. The men were bizarrely overly effeminate. Aside of the tranquility generated in the rare moments of perfect cohesion between music and movement during the pas de deux, this work now feels a bit inconsequential.
Tryst could perhaps have been equally renamed Trance. The music (James MacMillan) is ghastly for the most part - screeching strings - but fortunately this work is weird enough to work it. While perhaps the whole thing felt a little flat emotionally, the movement was interestingly primordial, almost blind, looking as though choreographed for the sensation rather than the visual effect. The four main couples danced well together, if slightly clumsily alone. The staging was really effective, diagonally arranged on the stage, and the lighting created a ghostly intimate atmosphere, almost like a new dawn or birth at the end, with the dancers writhing as the light comes up from stage left. Interesting, hypnotising, but a bit weird.
Symphony in C was in a whole league of its own, however. I think I often underrate Balanchine, but when you see his work next to these two, albeit very enjoyable and interesting, new works, it outshines them completely. Each movement of Bizet's symphony is taken on by one pair of principals, each with a distinct character and mood. The corps were radiant, and perhaps the most synchronous I have seen them dance; every movement initiated by the leading principals echoed so beautifully and subtley to completion. Alina Cojocaru danced a very regal Adagio, and Roberta Marquez and Stephen MacRae were show-stopping in the Allego Vivace. We had only a short snippet of the perfect pairing of Laura Morera and Ricardo Cervera, but they just left us wanting more at curtain down. Perhaps only Leanne Benjamin let the side down a very little in the first movement, with a few wobbly turns. However, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this the final work of the night.
A triple bill that ranks very highly in my table of Royal Ballet mixed bill evenings - it will be interesting to see what happens to these bills when Monica Mason steps down as Director. She has been key in the development of these evenings that have become such a core part of the Royal Ballet programme.
