Triple Bill
Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House
‘Saucy’ and ‘funky’ are not terms one would normally expect to hear in relation to a ballet performance. Nor is the irritatingly ubiquitous ‘cool’, which is what my young(er) date uttered last Saturday at the end of the Royal Ballet’s triple bill. Yet they all suit perfectly well a programme that edges provocatively on the borders of dance-theatre and postmodern dance, and stands out for being highly entertaining as well as refreshingly amusing. Indeed, a baritone in drag, shouting Spaniards, sleazy motels and bars and a kind of butch, cigar-smoking Carmen might not be everyone’s idea of ballet. Still, this not-so-traditionally-classical evening is a superb showcase of what ballet can also be today, thus providing the Royal Ballet artists with a unique chance to engage with performing modes other than the often stale, more conventional ones.
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