Yahoo News Sarah Crompton’s best dance of 2021
For dancers, not being able to dance isn’t just a denial of their art, but of their existence. As they practised in their kitchens during lockdown, or staged impromptu performances on outdoor stages, you could sense the pent-up energy, the desire to move waiting to be released.
The Royal Ballet’s exceptional dancers emerged like bullets from a gun
Some choreographers managed to make the most of their skills on film. William Forsythe’s The Barre Project set New York City Ballet’s Tiler Peck and three exceptional male partners spinning and jumping in a tribute to every dancer’s daily ritual. Rambert, under the direction of Benoit Swan Pouffer, turned the company’s London base into a performance space, for experiment and exploration in works that varied from the intriguing (Jo Strømgren’s Rooms) to the frankly bizarre (Wim Vandekeybus’s Drawn from Within). Four intelligent films about international choreographers at work boosted the Edinburgh festival’s dance programme.
But you could sense the relief when dancers were finally allowed to return to the stage in May. The Royal Ballet’s exceptional dancers emerged like bullets from a gun in a series of well-judged bills that highlighted both their appetite for the new – a sensational performance of Crystal Pite’s The Statement – and their respect for the past in works by Balanchine (a memorable Apollo) and Jerome Robbins (a lyrical Dances at a Gathering).
In its 90th anniversary year, it’s good to see the company in such thrilling form, which also illuminated full-length performances of Romeo and Juliet and Giselle. Wayne McGregor’s long postponed The Dante Project was the premiere of the year, with Thomas Adès’s surging score unlocking depths of emotion.
Birmingham Royal Ballet’s dancers look wonderfully honed and ready too, but director Carlos Acosta (who took over the company just as Covid struck) has yet to find a repertory that both redefines them and lets them shine. English National Ballet came back with a dazzling performance at Sadler’s Wells of works it had already showcased on film, including Russell Maliphant’s fine Echoes and Arielle Smith’s exhilarating Jolly Folly. Akram Khan’s long-awaited Creature was a muddled disappointment but Jeffrey Cirio’s agonised definition of the tormented soul at its centre was the performance of the year.
Khan’s opaque new work for his own company, Outwitting the Devil, shared Creature’s bleak sense of oppression but contained some sensationally beautiful movement. Matthew Bourne was also in a darker mood than sometimes, with The Midnight Bell using the novels of Patrick Hamilton to create a world flecked with melancholy desires and despair. Ballet Black commissioned two effective new pieces in Will Tuckett’s thoughtful Then or Now and Mthuthuzeli November’s dazzling The Waiting Game.
I missed Northern Ballet’s Merlin, choreographed by Drew McOnie, but enjoyed its revival of David Nixon’s Dangerous Liaisons. Scottish Ballet’s film of Gene Kelly’s Starstruck was an exuberant end to that company’s year. In a Covid-related bonus, Dangerous Liaisons, like many of the dance performances I have loved, is still available to watch online – an extension of access that is an undoubted bonus of a difficult time.
Technology produced another bonus. The influential dance-maker Robert Cohan died in January at the age of 95, having just completed, over Zoom, a series of solos called Afternoon Conversations With Dancers that were as vital and vivid as anything I saw this year.
The top five dance shows of 2021
1. The Dante Project
Royal Opera House, London; available to stream until 19 January
Wayne McGregor’s bold riff on The Divine Comedy also marked an emotional farewell to the stage from Royal Ballet principal Edward Watson.
2. Rosie Kay: Absolute Solo II
UK tour
In a moving piece, Kay revealed everything dance means to her and how it has carried her through.
3. Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell
Sadler’s Wells, London, and tour
Sexy, smouldering and sad, Bourne reached to the dark heart of desire.
4. Yorke Dance Project: Past Present/Connecting to Cohan
Linbury theatre, London
A breathtakingly beautiful reminder of the significance of dance pioneer Robert Cohan, who died in January.
5. English National Ballet: Jolly Folly; now available to stream
Sadler’s Wells, London
Arielle Smith’s madly energetic legion of silent clowns summed up the joy of dance.
Turkey
Dance Umbrella
A series of misfires both big and small from the annual international festival.
