Royal Opera House, London
Choreographer Balanchine was famously inspired by the window display of Fifth Avenue jewellers Van Cleef and Arpels when he created his full-length ballet Jewels. And, given the lavish parade of principal roles it contains, Jewels now functions as the ideal shop window for any ballet company, a chance to display their most precious gems on stage.
The Royal certainly opted for luxury casting for the first night of their season, starting with Tamara Rojo and Leanne Benjamin in Emeralds.
Rojo deploys her rare legato quality to delicately pastoral effect, hinting at reverie, mischief and love without breaking the spell of her dreaming trance. Benjamin is her more playful ballerina sister ? her quick, bright footwork hearing a more spritely, fairy music in Faur�'s accompanying score.
Emeralds is the most poetic ballet of the triptych, but Rubies is the crowd-pleasing slammer, its choreography strident with images of jazz, athletics and showgirls. The challenge for dancers is to look roguish and sexy rather than arch. Yet Zenaida Yanowsky, flashing her long siren's legs and dropping a mocking smile at the four worshipful men at her feet, has a world of fun. Steven McRae is a witty firecracker and, in partnership with Sarah Lamb, evokes layers of darker erotic amusement.
Diamonds, the final section, is dominated by the intense mysteries of its central duet. Alina Cojocaru and Rupert Pennefather never break eye contact as they approach each other across the stage, to wind through choreography that glitters and melts. Cojocaru finesses every moment with a jeweller's art. But the audience love her, too, for the passion with which she pushes the choreography to its climactic limits. There is beguiling tenderness in her dancing, but also fire and ice.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/sep/21/jewels-royal-opera-house-review
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