Damn, there was some amazing dance going on in mid-20th century New York. You had George Balanchine forging a new American ballet, all slick speed and striking angles, and in Harlem there was the Cotton Club and the Savoy, swinging dancefloors and entertainers like the legendary Nicholas Brothers, of whom Balanchine was a fan. There’s a taste of this world in English National Ballet’s latest triple bill, with a distinctly American flavour and a focus on propulsive rhythm.
Balanchine’s Symphony in Three Movements was made in 1972 as a memorial to Stravinsky, although the eponymous music is from 1945. Balanchine and Stravinsky were an absolute dream team, architects of multiple masterpieces. Here the clarity of line and stripped-back nature of the design crossed with the depth and crunchy complexity of Stravinsky’s score is a perfect balance.
There’s palpable power from the pit, with the English National Ballet Philharmonic relishing the music under the baton of Maria Seletskaja. The choreography has peppy energy as Swanice Luong arrives with a zing in a bubblegum pink leotard, bouncing into a jazzy tuck jump like a Gap advert. She, Emma Hawes and Ksenia Ovsyanick are like a trio of mean girls competing to be queen bee.
Sharp of gesture and brilliant of smile, Ovsyanick is particularly aloof. It’s such a specific technique and ENB aren’t a Balanchine company, but they do it justice. The spirit of the Nicholas Brothers arrives in a new piece, Bow Out, by American choreographer Micaela Taylor, inspired by the showstopping tap duo’s acrobatics in the 1943 film Stormy Weather.
It’s an exuberant blend of classical, jazz, hip-hop, tap and Lindy hop, in soft shoes and black tailcoats, to a soundtrack of jazz, clattering tap beats, and new music by Philip Patrick Harper Bucknor, AKA Tru. Taylor bounces off the syncopation, hooking tightly into the rhythm or squeezing out the juice between the beats while the dancers snatch movements from the air. There’s precision, virtuosity and showmanship, but also something more ominous: disillusionment, farewell, a grittier texture, and showbusiness itself almost becomes its own character.
An immensely enjoyable and intriguing debut from Taylor. Another premiere comes from a choreographer who’s been working in New York for 30 years but hails from Korea, Jae Man Joo. It’s thoroughly of the now in the sense that this is a vibes piece that harnesses lots of ritualistic mass-unison movement and creates an intense, immersive world through atmospheric visuals and score.
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