Royal Ballet offers embarrassment of riches

Joseph Sissens, Francisco Serrano and Liam Boswell performed Christopher Wheeldon's enchanting "For Four" at Jacob's Pillow. (Photo by Christopher Duggan)

In all of its years, nearly a century, the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival has struggled to accommodate the world’s largest, most important ballet companies. But this week, in an amazing effort of timing and funding, The Royal Ballet has settled into the Berkshires for a week of shows both in the Ted Shawn Theatre and the outdoor Henry J. Leir Stage. And the appearance is a triumph – not so much artistically, spiritually. It gives devotees of ballet hope that the many obstacles to staging ballets can be overcome and that the art, which is in transition as its losing audiences and facing issues of gender and race, will survive.
 
The Royal Ballet assured the audience of that with a powerful world premiere in the Shawn by the recently knighted Wayne McGregor, “Figures in a Landscape” that was itself inspired by the Pillow’s expansive hills and forests. Yet before that, the program offered a primer in classical ballet with pas de deux from Marius Petipa and George Balanchine and then a nod to Royal Ballet’s history with works by founding father, Frederick Ashton and his successor Kenneth MacMillan.
 
But among the most successful of works shown, as it was modern and beautifully crafted, was from another Royal Ballet dancer turned choreographer – Christopher Wheeldon — whose “For Four” to music by Franz Schubert enthralled. And if that wasn’t enough, the company opened with an excerpt from Pam Tanowitz’s “Secret Things” from 2023. Even though the stage was too small for one of the Royal Ballet’s evening-length extravaganzas – it was an embarrassment of riches.
 
Because of that, the program ran a bit long. Yet, for those like myself who do not travel to the United Kingdom regularly, every dance and every dancer – including international star Natalia Osipova – was savored. These dancers are not only excellent technicians, but fine actors who languageless emotive skills are hailed. And rightly so as they carried us along in tidbits from old standards from “Giselle” and “Diana and Actaeon” as well as “Manon” and “Carousel.”
 
There is no room in this review to offer the praises of each piece, but take my word for it, balletomanes will be pleased.
 
However, the newer pieces from McGregor and Tanowitz show us where the Royal Ballet is headed and it’s obvious they are in fine hands.
 
McGregor, whose “Woolf Works” just finished a triumphant run at American Ballet Theatre, is a marvelous architect of things seen and unseen. His “Figures in a Landscape,” with music by Nicholas Becker, John Cage, Ben Frost and Abraham Marder, was designed for five who appear as bird and deer-like creatures who move and interact with each other through a shadowy, but expansive space. The atmosphere was amplified by the opening of the great barn doors at the back of the Shawn stage – offering the dancers a backdrop of glowing trees, fireflies and moths. At times, lights would blaze out at the audience, noting the strong sunrise on a summer day. I can’t imagine “Figures in a Landscape” being as effective in any other setting.
 
Lastly, Tanowitz’s “Secret Things” to string quartet music by Anna Clyne, beautifully played live, was a glimpse through a mysterious world where the dancers appeared one-dimensional marionettes. But left to their own devises, they break loosen their strings and restrictions. It was a modern “Petrushka” with a happier, but elusive ending.