Part of the 2015 Cheltenham Music Festival

Firstly, let me state that I am not a dance aficionado but that I can find a night watching a good modern ballet company as satisfying as seeing a great play and wonderful acting. So, it may be just my uninformed imagination, but there seem to be rather a lot of small(ish) independent dance troupes around at the moment – and a lot of them specialising in contemporary pieces.

I had not come across the New English Ballet Theatre before last night’s performance as part of the Cheltenham Music Festival. The London based company, founded in 2012 by Karen Pilkington-Miksa, claims not to be a “contemporary dance company” but one with its roots in Diaghilev and Balanchine. But to me, on seeing them for the first time, it is in contemporary that their strength lies.

Last night’s performance contained five short pieces danced to a mixture of live and recorded music. First up was Daniela Cardim Fonteyne’s Tangents danced by three pairs of dancers to Pictures at an Exhibition. Exploring the nature of relationships, the piece reflected the light and shade of Mussorgsky’s music played live by Anne Lovett. Niklas Blomqvist shone in his solo.

Next up was Orbital Motion, cleverly choreographed by Valantino Zucchetti to the music of the ubiquitous Philip Glass, this time his haunting Violin Concerto. The two soloist in this, Chloé Lopes Gomes and Ivan Delgado del Rio were exceptionally good, Ms Gomes’ lithe body beautifully in tune with the music.

After the more meditative Toca, designed and choreographed by Érico Montes to a couple of Vila Lobos Études and danced by Arianna Marchiori and the excellent Paul Oliver, the first half concluded with my favourite piece of the evening, Mad Women.

Created by Kristen McNally to a wonderful sound collage, which included snippets from Irving Berlin and a 1950’s radio commercial with American doctors extolling the virtues of Camel cigarettes, Mad Women was a lot of fun. Performed by five girls and an unfortunate pizza delivery boy, dance styles ranged from the Twist to robot and everything in between. Loved it.

The second half of the evening consisted of Kreutzer Sonata, choreographed by Andrew McNicol. Based on the story by Tolstoy, which itself was inspired by the Beethoven sonata, it was a much more traditional, conventional ballet. The music was played live on stage by Andrew Harvey on violin and Ms Lovett again on piano. In addition to the Beethoven, the piece was danced to Janácek’s String Quartet No. 1, nicely played in the pit by the young Gildas Quartet.

Despite some cleverly evocative choreography and beautiful dancing from soloists Hayley Blackburn, Silas Stubbs and Ivan Delgado del Rio I thought Kreutzer Sonata the least successful piece of the evening. I felt it depended too much on the narrative and technically was a bit top-heavy, relying on some lengthy and rather clumsy scene changes that included shifting a large and rather unwieldy Madame Récamier sofa around the stage. It was also unfortunate that Ms Blackburn nearly lost her frock at one point and at another, got a bit tangled in a gauze curtain. This was pity because her dancing and characterisation were really striking. The suitably named Silas Stubbs could not have been more wicked as the jealous husband, even if he had donned a swirling black cloak, but for me the outstanding dancer of the piece, and possibly the whole evening, was Mr del Rio. Although slight, he has the charisma and style that really demands attention.

So, all in all, a very satisfying evening. New English Ballet Theatre is certainly a company to keep an eye on and one which, when they become fully aware of their strengths, will no doubt become major players.   ★★★★☆   Michael Hasted   6/07/15

Photos by Dave Morgan