'The Firebird'/'A Month in the Country'/'Symphony in C' at the Royal Opera House

The latest triple bill of one act ballets at the Royal Opera House was 'The Firebird', 'A Month in the Country' and 'Symphony in C' - spectacle, narrative and pure ballet. What more could you ask for? I like the triple bills by the Royal Ballet since you always get a mix of styles and tempos, something there to suit everyone.

'The Firebird' was created for the Ballet Russe and, as such, is all about spectacle and that's we get. The Firebird flutters around the stage with grace moving to jerky, bird-like movements in her red and gold costume. The story is rather minimal and unlikely but you're not there for the story.

The prince eventually captures the Firebird but frees her as she gives him a magic feather to summon her when he's in trouble. That's just as well because he soon finds himself embattled by the local wizard and his minions so the prince pulls out the feather and, miraculously, there she is, the Firebird swopping round the stage destroying the minions. The prince is then free to marry a princess who was the wizard's prisoner and we get a grand finale with more and more people appearing on stage in lavish costumes as they attend the royal marriage. It's a spectacular scene with so many people walking on stage at the end.

One of the fun things was to see the background of a magical cityscape used in the final scene and recognising it from seeing an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2011 about Diaghilev and the Ballet Russe.

The wonderful Itziar Mendizabal danced the Firebird, Nehemiah Kish danced the prince, Claire Calvert danced the princess and Christopher Saunders was evil as the wizard.

'A Month in the Country' is based on the play by Turgenev and created as a ballet by Frederick Ashton. It's a regular in the repertoire of the Royal Ballet and is an elegant, narrative ballet, telling the story of the residents of the country house, the loves, the boredom, the everyday lives and the special. It was very well done and nicely staged and, after the spectacle of 'The Firebird', nicely changed the tone of the evening with its genteel dancing and muted colours. The lead character of Natalia was danced by a namesake, Natalia Osipova.

The final ballet was 'Symphony in C', a series of movements of pure ballet, not trying to tell any story, rather, just enjoying the sight and power of movement for its own sake. I loved the energetic dancing and the synchronised sections, especially when the stage was flooded by ballerinas in white tutus, creating an astonishing spectacle. There were a lot more ballerinas than male dancers who created a nice balance in their black tights and tunics.

The excitement mounted for me as more and more dancers joined the stage, groups of dancers coming together and separating, different movements and complex synchronised dancing. It was breathtaking. As the ballet advanced the stage was flooded with ballerinas in white tutus and it was a splendid sight, watching them create patterns on the stage and then breaking away before coming back to gather in synchronised perfection. I loved it! Another successful evening of very different ballets from the Royal Ballet.

'Don Quixote' Rehearsal at the Royal Opera House

On Friday I went to see a rehearsal of the Carlos Acosta choreographed 'Don Quixote' with the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House. I quite like going to rehearsals since the tickets are ridiculously cheap, the show is fully staged (other than the band being in mufti) and you know you're there with real ballet enthusiasts. I've seen the traditional Petipa 'Don Quixote' danced by the Bolshoi a few years ago and, although I enjoyed it at the time, the memory hasn't lingered. I thought I'd give it another go and see the Acosta version and I'm so pleased I did.  

It's a gorgeous production (also down to Acosta) with lovely sets, lighting and costumes as well as great energetic dancing and continual movement on the stage. From the rather dark prologue the stage was suddenly bathed in incredibly warm light reflecting the sunlight of Spain as the cast throng the stage and mill about as dances start and the story starts to unfold. It was terribly exciting and made me want to see more and more and where was the good Don?

Ah, that's the thing. Don Quixote is an old man and Sancho Panza is fat and middle aged so who does all the dancing? The young folks, of course, so the story isn't so much about the good Don but more about him enabling a story to progress. That story is the love between Kitri and Basilio and, after many adventures, he helps them to get married even though Kitri's father wants her to marry a local nobleman. It doesn't take long to realise that the good Don is an old romantic at heart that is on a quest to find his own love, the mysterious Dulcinea.

Sadly I don't know if the good Don finds his love or not since the Royal Ballet didn't dance Act Three. After the opening dance of Act Two the curtains closed and we were evacuated from the building due to a fire being reported somewhere in the building. After we got out, waited in the street and then got in again since it seems that the fire (if there was one) had been dealt with, we'd lost about an hour so there was only time available to dance Act Two.

That was disappointing but I'm so glad to have seen it - our lovers and the good Don meet with a band of gypsies in the countryside and we're treated to some marvellous flamenco dancing. Afterwards the Don attacks the evil windmill, gets knocked out and has a fever dream seeing the Dryads dance and that sequence was so beautiful to watch as the stage filled with ballerinas in tutus all dancing together in synchronised movements. Then we had to say goodbye since the Royal Opera House needed to get ready for the evening's performance.

Kitri was danced by Yasmine Naghdi  and Basilio by Marcelino Sambe, with Matthew Ball dancing the famous matador and Beatriz Stix-Brunell as the street dancer. The romantic old fool, the good Don, was played by Christopher Saunders and Sancho by Philip Mosely. I want to see the whole thing again - including Act Three - so I've booked tickets to see it when it's broadcast live to cinemas on Tuesday this week. Most of the run is sold out or only has random seats available and I don't want to wait until April to see how this production concludes in Act Three.

Thank you Mr Acosta for breathing new life into a glorious story with amazing dances and opportunities for those young folk to shine.