On the occasion of the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), the Royal Ballet performed three ballets in 2018 to the music of this American composer and conductor. Choreographer Wayne McGregor created Yugen to the beautiful and diverse music of Chichester Psalms. The warm choirs resonate with the togetherness of the dancers dressed in (burgundy) red. The second ballet The Age Of Anxiety
… is set to music from Bernstein's second symphony of the same name, based on WH Auden's poem from 1947. Choreographer Liam Scarlett knows how to portray this poem, where the main characters seek comfort and find solace in a cocktail bar in New York in wartime. The latest ballet Corybantic Games is by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, set to the lyrical music of Bernstein's Serenade After Plato's Symposium. The scantily clad dancers with black ribbons, referring to ancient Greece, perform a romantic dance. A beautiful package of three visually and aurally attractive ballets by different choreographers. (SvdP)more
