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.