The love that asks no questions, the love that pays the price… The amount of unconditional love sloshing about at the Royal Ballet for choreographers and dancers is making this autumn in Bow Street a test of loyalty. At his season press conference Royal Ballet artistic director Kevin O’Hare smilingly promised us that the 2020 season might contain only works made in the past ten years. God preserve us.
Two of the autumn’s three bills so far have been mixed programmes dominated by new or recent in-house contemporary ballets, and only Liam Scarlett’s Viscera, in the current bill, should be longlisted for 2020. The rest should be longlisted for other qualities: Wayne McGregor’s Raven Girl for inelegance, Alastair Marriott’s Connectome for insipidity, and now Carlos Acosta’s Carmen for incoherence. What does an artistic director do, exactly? Direct the art? Or indulge the artists?
We all love Acosta the dancer, with his super-gentlemanly manners and super-ungentlemanly twinkle.
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