Review: Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB), York Theatre Royal, York

8:31am Tuesday 13th May 2008

CLASSICAL ballet is going mod. Two of BRB's three dances on the opening night used 20th century scores to provide a bridge between classical and modern styles.

But, first, there was reassurance for the traditionalists, in George Balanchine's Concerto Barocco (1941).

Danced to Bach's D minor concerto for two violins, its solo roles, taken here with cool confidence by Natasha Oughtred and Lei Zhao, and contrasted with the eight-member corps de ballet, mirror the solo and tutti voices in Bach's score.

It made for a happy mix, not least because the violinists, Takane Funatsu and Robert Gibbs, played with such panache. Stage and pit inspired one another.

Sadly, that was the last we heard from the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under Philip Ellis, a wasteful use of a costly resource.

For Hans van Manen's Twilight, the music came from Ross Williams' prepared piano, a grand in the far corner of the stage, playing John Cage's The Perilous Night, a Chinese-tinted piece.

Jenna Roberts and Jamie Bond gave a thoughtful, deliberate account of the dance, but there was little either perilous or nocturnal about their romance.

That was put to rights by Take Five, set to a suite of six Dave Brubeck pieces spearheaded by the legendary title-work.

A jazz quartet led by Simon Allen's sax set the tone and the dancers caught fire immediately.

David Bintley's choreography engineers a brilliant rapprochement between classical and modern, and the entire cast let their hair down with infectious enthusiasm.

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