Stravinski triple bill is full of delights

8:40am Monday 7th July 2008

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WHEN you discover that choreographer Michael Corder is sitting in the seat behind then the realisation sets in – this is the ballet equivalent of dining at the table of the gods.

To be at the world premiere of Le Baiser de la Fee was humbling enough but to have its guiding light so close is possibly just too much for this particular stage door Johnny to bear. Sorry, but it’s true.

For his steady guidance of Birmingham Royal Ballet through Stravinski’s masterpiece was a joy to behold. The work must surely also send Jenna Roberts and Alexander Campbell shooting up the promotion ladder, for their respective performances as the Fairy and Young Man were absolutely electric. This begs the question – could Campbell be successor to the much-missed Robert Parker?

Their pas de deux seemed to go on forever and to such an extent that when Natasha Oughtred’s Bride emerges you feel like shouting for her rival to return.

This was a triple bill devoted to Stravinski’s music and featured some of the most exciting dance I’ve ever witnessed.

Petrushka – once again showcasing the burgeoning talents of Campbell – was a dark tale of puppetry and doom, a gloomy nod in the folklore direction.

Ambro Vallo and Dominic Antonucci also turn in masterly performances as helpless pawns in showman Jonathan Payn’s devious machinations.

Card Game, the final piece in the jigsaw, provided a perfect vehicle for Jamie Bond to display his ample skills as the Joker.

His was a card that can be anything it wants to be and therein lies the key to this beguiling piece of choreographic hokum by John Cranko.Visually pleasing, Card Game rounds off an evening of delights that lingers long after the final curtain.

JOHN PHILLPOTT