✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper


Sign up by Email or Facebook.

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we sent newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Turning tips into memories

Get started Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Kids
  • Benefits
  • Membership
  • Get Started
  • Membership
  • Benefits
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Dance

ENB's anniversary gala review ★★★★★

17 Jan 20 – 18 Jan 20, 19:30 Sat mat 14:00 Dur.: 3 hours approx inc one interval

English National Ballet marked its 70th anniversary at the London Coliseum with a glittering gala that celebrated its history and faced the future with pride and confidence

By Teresa Guerreiro on 18/1/2020

English National Ballet, Etudes, photo Laurent Liotardo
English National Ballet, Etudes, photo Laurent Liotardo
ENB's anniversary gala review 4 ENB's anniversary gala review Teresa Guerreiro
Full marks for the very intelligent architecture of this show and its astoundingly slick production. ENB’s 70th anniversary gala managed to avoid all the pitfalls of similar events, in particular tedious dead air between numbers.


The first half of the programme, a trawl through the company’s history interspersing film and live performance of excerpts of 16 ballets old and new, ran impressively smoothly.


It opened with a short film, where distinguished figures of the company’s history reminisced. Former dancer Eve Pettinger recalled being there at the very beginning, when, she said, the company consisted of ’13 girls and two boys.’


Founded in 1950 by dancers Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin, the company was originally named London Festival Ballet. However, the name denoted a certain impermanence so, as the company established itself and built an enviable repertoire, eventually the name was changed to English National Ballet.


ENB established its own school in 1988 and current students of the school, too, danced at the gala.


The actual performance started impressively, with an extract from a now rarely performed work, The Three-Cornered Hat. It was originally created for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes on a score by Manuel de Falla and designs by Pablo Picasso, blending ballet with Spanish flamenco. Sergio Bernal, guesting from the National Ballet of Spain, twirled his bright red cape and produced a mean zapateado with impeccable salero, as well as throwing up perfect classical double tours en l’air.


It was the right decision not to run these extracts in chronological order; rather, they were placed in sometimes contrasting, sometimes complementary ways. So, the Dance of the Knights from Rudolf Nureyev’s Romeo and Juliet (Nureyev is another stellar name in ENB’s history), was immediately followed by a thrilling sequence from Akram Khan’s multi-award-winning Giselle.


Each showed a distinctive way of moving ensembles on stage; sequentially, they provided a clear illustration of the company’s journey.


There was pure classical dancing, for example, the Jewels pas de cinq from Kenneth MacMillan’s The Sleeping Beauty, and Broadway-inspired dance such as Balanchine’s Who Cares? on a score by George Gershwin.


Some extracts worked better than others, and the level of dancing varied quite a bit, with the sparkling Shiori Kase standing out, and the company men having a ball in the final piece of the half, William Forsythe’s showy, athletic, tongue-in-cheek Playlist (Track 2).


The second half of the programme brought us Harald Lander’s Etudes, first danced by ENB in 1955.


It is a black and white ballet based on dancers’ daily class, starting with the most basic exercises at the barre and progressing to sequences of increasing degrees of complexity and difficulty, culminating in a Grand Allegro where both women and men show their prowess.


Again, some of the dancing, in particular corps de ballet coordination, was not all it could be, but it would be churlish not to highlight the commitment and brio of the company and the genuinely exciting final sequence, with principals Shiori Kase, Erina Takahashi, Fernanda Oliveira, Isaac Hernández, Joseph Caley, Jeffrey Cirio and Francesco Gabriele Frola firing off jetés and pirouettes as if their lives depended on it.


A perfectly timed shower of confetti and gold ribbons exploded onto the stage and stalls as the stalwart English National Ballet Philharmonic conducted by Gavin Sutherland, rang the final note of Czerny’s score, after which ENB’s current artistic director, Tamara Rojo, spoke of her pride in the company, to which, over the past seven years, she has brought her own far-reaching vision.

by Teresa Guerreiro

What ENB's anniversary gala review
Where London Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, , London , WC2N 4ES | MAP
Nearest tube Charing Cross (underground)
When 17 Jan 20 – 18 Jan 20, 19:30 Sat mat 14:00 Dur.: 3 hours approx inc one interval
Price £15.80-£166.80 (discounts available)
Website Click here to book



Most popular

Culture to see you through the weekend
Things to do in London this weekend: 22 - 24 January
Olly Alexander in It's A Sin, Channel 4 (Photo: Channel 4)
It's A Sin, Channel 4 review
Johnny Flynn in The Dig, Netflix (Photo: Netflix)
What to watch on TV this week

Editor's Picks

ENB Le Corsaire, Erina Takahashi, Francesco Gabriele Frola, Jeffrey Cirio (c) Laurent Liotardo
English National Ballet, Le Corsaire review
English National Ballet in Derek Deane's Swan Lake in-the-round photo Laurent Liotardo
ENB, Swan Lake in-the-round 2020 Royal Albert Hall
Alina Cojocaru, photo Morgan Norman
Alina at Sadler's Wells Review
The Royal Ballet, Onegin, Natalia Osipova and Reece Clarke (c) ROH 2020 Tristram Kenton
The Royal Ballet, Onegin review
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

We recommend nearby

  • Frenchie Covent Garden

    Restaurant and wine bar Frenchie has been credited with redesigning the Parisian way of eating. Its simple, generous yet precise dishes are heavily influenced by chef cum owner Gregory Marchand's classical training in Nantes.

    Read more...
    Book Map
  • Coco Ichibanya

    The first European branch of Japan's biggest curry house chain dishes out Japanese curries with adventurous toppings and plenty of options to customise your meal.

    Read more...
    Book Map
  • Cora Pearl

    Cora Pearl, the second restaurant from the team behind Kitty Fisher's, takes its name from the infamous 19th-century French courtesan. The menu, consisting of both French and British influenced cuisine, is deceptively simple, with cheese and ham toasties, fish stew, and chocolate ganache on offer.

    Read more...
    Book Map

English National Ballet

ENB

Tamara Rojo

London Coliseum

Balanchine

Akram Khan

Harold Lander

Beryl Grey

Eve Pettinger



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • What is Culture Whisper membership
  • Corporate membership
  • Give a gift membership
  • Retrieve a gift membership
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×