'Visionaries: Robbins and MacMillan' review — this pure dance double bill is a total joy

Read our review of Visionaries: Robbins and MacMillan, now in performances at the Royal Opera House to 28 November.

Summary

• Visionaries: Robbins and MacMillan runs at the Royal Opera House
• This double bill pairs Dances at a Gathering with Song of the Earth
• The impressive company includes Marcelino Sambé, Anna Rose O’Sullivan, and Lauren Cuthbertson

Jerome Robbins and Kenneth MacMillan were two of the most celebrated and visionary choreographers of the 20th century and this double bill brings together two of their masterpieces in conversation. Robbins’s Dances at a Gathering (1969) and MacMillan’s Song of the Earth (1965) both feature minimal scenery and are unusual in their musical presentation. The former features a patchwork of 18 short Chopin pieces, including waltzes, polkas, and mazurkas, accompanied by a solo piano. And Mahler’s Song of the Earth, with lyrics from eighth-century Chinese poetry translated into German, is performed by an onstage tenor and mezzo soprano (John Findon and Beth Taylor).

West Side Story choreographer Robbins was insistent that “there are no stories to any of the dances in Dances at a Gathering. There are no plots and no roles.” But it’s hard not to speculate about the characters (named according to the colours that they wear) as they are so endearing. Probably set in a pre-industrial village, perhaps in Chopin’s native Poland, a group of excitable young people attend their first dance. Costumes are simple, hair is tied with ribbons, and there’s a giddy sense of improvisation.

The boys show off as they leap, do-si-do, and click their heels, but it’s all in good fun and there’s no sense of toxic masculinity. Marcelino Sambé’s Brown, who opens the proceedings and sets the tone with his playfulness, in the de facto anchor character, and towards the end he has a virtuoso solo with scarcely a moment in which to breathe. Anna Rose O’Sullivan is lightness personified as the Apricot soubrette and Mayara Magri is elegantly wistful as Mauve. There are no fixed pairings; Yasmine Naghdi’s Pink and Sambé’s Brown perform a pas de deux of increasing intensity, suggesting that things are getting more serious than they anticipated, but no one is ready to settle down yet.

There’s a slightly more worldly presence with a fashionably late appearance from Lauren Cuthbertson’s Green, who likely has prior experience of these gatherings and has a keen sense of her allure. It’s my favourite of all the productions that I’ve seen at Royal Opera and Ballet this year, and I could have happily watched another hour of such undistilled joy.

While Dances at a Gathering is a celebration of youthful high spirits, Song of the Earth – which Darcey Bussell chose for her farewell performance in 2007, and the unadorned white tunic that she wore is currently on display in the foyer – is characterised by its austerity. On a first viewing at least, it is perhaps easier to admire than love. Spanning the four seasons with a monochrome palette, it has a flinty beauty in its bleakness with its blend of German Expressionism and Chinese calligraphy.

William Bracewell perhaps isn’t quite menacing as he could be as the man in black with a white mask who separates Patricio Revé’s Man and Marianela Nuñez’s Woman. Nuñez is mesmerising as always, displaying a steely resolve amid the human impotency in the face of more powerful forces. This double bill comprises two pieces of pure dance that showcase the gamut of life and death and are filled with layers that linger in the mind.

Visionaries: Robbins and MacMillan is at the Royal Opera House to 28 November. Book Visionaries: Robbins and MacMillan tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Visionaries: Robbins and MacMillan (Photos by Johan Persson)