Ballet Central @ Norwich Playhouse.
Ballet Central @ Norwich Playhouse
By CHRISTOPHER SMITH
Making a welcome return visit to Norwich, Ballet Central, and its artistic co-ordinator Antonio Castilla and director Philip Feeney, presented a programme that was varied in tone yet united in live grace and explosive ebullience.
A la Fresca made a gentle opening, with the spirit of Chopin's music caught in variation on the theme of boy meets girl in an interpretation that was light-hearted as well as light-footed.
After the mood had turned more serious for Rituals of Habit, Long Train Runnin', with vapour patterns to add atmosphere, was more extrovert.
Out came tutus and tiaras for a quite direct, yet imaginative response to one of Beethoven's most impressive movements.
Wilfred Owen's Futility, recited with compassion by Derek Jacobi, and Samuel Barber's poignant Adagio offered no less of a challenge, but the solo dancer was equal to it in Sara Matthews' choreography.
After the percussion of Hand in the Clouds, the Peasant Dance from Giselle took us back to a French romantic world.
Going South for Winter evoked the spectacle of swallows as they migrate.
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