The Royal Ballet

In its latest triple bill, the Royal Ballet pays tribute to three dance-makers who have marked distinctive epochs in its performance history. Its centrepiece is Frederick Ashton’s 1963 Marguerite and Armand. Created as a showcase for the now legendary partnership of Fonteyn/Nureyev, this one-acter highlights his unique talent for succinct storytelling, as Alexandre Dumas’ Lady of the Camellias is narrated through a rapid series of salient episodes. Ashton’s dance drama has none of the grandeur traditionally associated with either Verdi’s La traviata, or the cinematic works based on by the same text, such as Garbo’s memorable Camille. Here the story is treated as an intimate drama relived in the memory of dying Marguerite.

Given its historical significance, the ballet is not an easy one to tackle, and not just because of memories of Nureyev and Fonteyn. The choreography has aged here and there, and makes it difficult for contemporary artists to engage effectively with the demands of some of its slightly passé ideas. Yet, on the opening night, Tamara Rojo and Sergei Polunin demonstrated that the work can be disentangled from the web of the past. Rojo, a powerful artist and a splendid dancer, exorcises the spectre of Fonteyn with a reading of the doomed heroine that brings a much needed whiff of fresh air into the work.

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From her first appearance it is clear that Marguerite is Rojo’s ideal role. So is Armand for Polunin, a character he portrays as a whimsical, hotblooded though inexperienced lover, instead of as the languorously wimpish hero traditionally seen in movies, drama stagings and opera productions. It is true that, while Rojo’s unique approach to the character cleverly prevents any comparison with Fonteyn, Polunin, with his dashing handsomeness and splendid technical prowess, is the one who remains more linked to the memory of Nureyev.