London City Ballet: Resurgence – London, Sadler’s Wells

Artistic Director: Christopher Marney

Artistic director Christopher Marney’s Resurgence celebrates the re-emergence, after a 30-year hiatus, of London City Ballet, once a resident company of Sadler’s Wells. And what a triumphant resurgence it is – a vibrant programme that showcases the diversity of the company’s output and includes two fabulous recent works.

The show includes fascinating archive footage illustrating the history of the company, with some intriguing behind-the-scenes glimpses of Princess Diana, the Ballet’s patron, who loved attending rehearsals.

The evening begins with Ashley Page’s Larina Waltz. The piece, originally written as the finale to a gala in tribute to Tchaikovsky in 1993, now features five couples in a series of scenes set to the glorious waltz from Eugene Onegin. Within this simple architecture Page’s choreography creates a wonderful variety of movement and mood.

This is followed by Kenneth MacMillan’s Ballade which first premiered in 1972 and now stars Alina Cojocaru. She dances the part of the lone woman, while three men make a series of plays for her. In Kate Lyons’ striking staging, the dancers begin sitting on chairs round a poker table, both they and the set all in white as befits the elegance of the piece and emphasizes the universality of this dance of desire.

Arielle Smith’s Five Dances (2024) is set to John Adams’ John’s Book of Alleged Dances. It’s a vibrant new work which reflects Smith’s determination to break free of traditional narratives of classical ballet which limit women’s roles to either dying from love or being rescued by a man. Writing in the Guardian, Smith said, ‘We need new narratives that reflect the 21^st century.’ Here gender is deliberately blurred, both men and women dancers wear a costume that is half-skirt. The changing moods are partly created not by old stories but by different washes of rich colour, from playful orange, moodier blue-green to a golden sunshine. At times the animal-like nature of humans is suggested by movement that is almost menacing.

The second half features Concerto (Second movement), Kenneth MacMillan’s breathtaking pas de deux set to Shostakovich’s Andante from his Piano Concerto No. 2. Isadora Bless and Joseph Taylor bring out every nuance of this most poignant of pieces.

Resurgence ends with a miraculous new piece by Christopher Marney, Eve. It’s a bold re-imagining of the Adam and Eve story which focuses on Eve and the Serpent. Her act of eating the apple, rather than bringing about the downfall of the human race, is here shown as a liberating moment. The dance begins not in paradise but in some desolate landscape where dead leaves swirl around Eve and beyond are the cries of predatory birds. Cira Robinson’s striking stillness suggests Eve’s complete aloneness and thus her vulnerability to the Serpent. Álvaro Madrigal’s movements as the Serpent suggest not just the sinuous cunning we might expect of the role, but something searching, almost lost.

There is an especially vivid scene in which the Serpent takes Eve by the hand and flies with her above the desolate wasteland. When they land, the mysterious apple tree arises. Once Eve takes a bite from the apple, from under the curtain rolls a whole troupe of Adams and Eves. They are appropriately nude – or rather in costumes that allow them to appear so. What follows is a series of invigorating dances to Jennie Muskett’s original composition, ending with a triumphant raising of the two protagonists as they head out into the future.

Runs until 14 September 2024