United Kingdom Ballet Icons Gala 2025: Soloists, English National Ballet Philharmonic / Maria Seletskaja (conductor). London Coliseum, 9.3.2024. (JPr)
In the glossy souvenir – and very informative – programme there was a wide ranging and fascinating essay ‘The sensual and narrative legacies of Romantic ballet’ by Graham Watts. Beginning by highlighting the problems of diminishing state funding, he continues ‘The inevitable outcome of this economic reality has been to rely upon the staple classical repertoire, albeit augmented from time to time by the obligation to make something new, the reality being that it is the vintage ballets that rake it in at the box office.’ Watts goes on to discuss ballet’s Romantic era which began in the late-eighteenth century with works that ‘were more concerned with material issues in the real world than in the supernatural’. That fascination with the supernatural evolved during the early-nineteenth century. Later there was a ‘growing emphasis on nationalism … with an increasing fascination for the exoticism (even perhaps, the eroticism) of faraway cultures’. This affected the ‘design, costume and gesture’ of what was presented as well as leading to ‘transforming the ballerina’s art’ and to important developments in technique, femininity and storytelling.
Watts concludes how ‘ballet is still largely centred on the leading role of the ballerina.’ Surely that’s not the case in 2025? What I do agree with him is that there is a reliance on vintage ballets, often with vintage choreography and in vintage productions. Evenings like this magnificent Ballet Icons Gala – one of the best in my memory – are where the ‘legacies of Romantic Ballet’ can be celebrated whilst there could be much more reinvention elsewhere; it may not always succeed, but – seriously – how long can we watch the same steps, in the same costumes, and against the same sets. Also, as for the pre-eminence of the ballerina, this wonderful assemblage of dancers from some of the world’s leading companies cast a spotlight – as it often does – on our well-schooled, slightly anonymous, homegrown male dancers compared to the charisma and gravity-defying virtuosity of those with the ‘wow factor’ from abroad.
There were fifteen duets (and one trio) from 30 dancers that the remarkable Olga Balakleets, the gala’s artistic director, had gathered at the London Coliseum for an enterprising blend of (often-repeated) classics and new work. The costumes – such as they were with, as usual, several bare male torsos on show – were familiar from the ballets we saw and an attempt was often made to vary what was projected at the rear of the stage: this included a grand staircase, the silhouette of a galleon, a Spanish village, a magnificent ballroom and a misty glade. There was often specific lighting for the contemporary works and Rafael Porzycki was credited as creative director, with Nina Kobiashvili as set director and Andrew Ellis as lighting designer. When the music was played live, it sounded splendid – and loud – from the English National Ballet Philharmonic who were frequently whipped along by their music director Maria Seletskaja.
The standard of dancing was high right from the start with the crystalline purity and radiance of Marianela Núñez, this country’s leading ballerina, in the pas de deux from Act II of The Sleeping Beauty, ably supported, if little more, by William Bracewell, also from The Royal Ballet. Jose Martinéz’s 2003 Delibes Suite pas de deux was a playful affair to Delibes’s expansive music and there was a fizzing coda from Berlin State Ballet principals Iana Salenko and David Motta Soares before they walked towards the blue at the rear of the stage. The first UK premiere was Sebastian Kloborg’s 2021 Once I had a Love with music by Blondie and Philip Glass: a duet, like most of the new works were for me, of romantic attraction, break-up and reconnection for Maria Kochetkova and Kloborg himself. It had some interesting lifts before they too just walked off. What would these galas be without the Black Swan pas de deux? It was efficiently danced by Madison Young (Bavarian State Ballet) and Victor Caixeta (Dutch National Ballet) who did not look as if they danced together as often as some in the programme, though in an evening of fouettés galore Young’s were spot-on. A second UK premiere, the deeply moving Toujours from former Royal Ballet principal Mara Galeazzi and Jason Kittelberger to Domenico Clapasson’s sad music was about the love and loss of Galeazzi’s father and the numerous lifts reflected the support he gave her. A highlight of the entire evening was Paris Opera Ballet’s Inès McIntosh and Shale Wagman dancing the Le Corsaire pas de deux. Wagman had the pantherine attack and effortlessness this showcase demands whilst there were more secure fouettés from McIntosh. A world premiere was A Stranding from Marie-Agnès Gillot, and its choreographers Travis Clausen-Knight and James Pett about ‘a woman standing and watching the tide’ though the movement of the three beginning in a spotlight had an inherent sadness about it which perfectly mirrored Max Richter’s music. Ending the first half was a pas de deux from Laurencia, that was Mikhail Messerer’s 2010 recreation of Vakhtang Chabukiani’s 1939 Kirov original. Giorgi Potskhishvili (Dutch National Ballet) was let off the leash and leapt thrillingly around the stage with the spirited Mayara Magri (The Royal Ballet) not disappointing with her fouettés.
The second half opened with a further UK premiere, Juango Arqués’s 2020 Fordländia, danced by Lucia Lacarra and Matthew Golding to Jóhann Johansson’s insistent music. More forced separation and coming together again but intriguingly staged with a huge piece of silky fabric representing the rippling sea that we see (!) in some projected video. There are more unusual lifts and a chair Golding sits on (onstage and on film) almost trying to hold the tide back Canute-like. Next another gala favourite Victor Gsovsky’s 1949 Grand Pas Classique – with its bravura split jumps, pirouettes and fouettés – was splendidly danced by La Scala Ballet’s Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko. Maria Kochetkova and Bavarian State Ballet’s Osiel Gouneo in a lowkey Rubies (from Jewels) did justice to Balanchine’s prancing steps. That came before António Casalinho announcing himself as the best male dancer of the evening with his exhilarating barrel turns and fast spins in the pas de deux from Agrippina Vaganova and Vakhtang Chabukiani’s 1935 Diana and Acteon and he overshadowed his Bavarian State Ballet – and Portuguese – colleague Margarita Fernandes who admirably overcame a brief fall to the stage. To & Fro to music by Respighi was created by Matthew Ball in 2024 and was danced by Ball and fellow Royal Ballet principal Mayara Magri. The title ‘represents the swing of a pendulum’ and the ballet is one of movement this way and that, balances and counterbalances, and ultimately deeply romantic. The second act pas de deux from Giselle was performed with a deliberate and focussed approach by the ethereal Chloe Misseldine, principal with American Ballet Theatre (who looks one to watch out for in future) and The Royal Ballet’s Reece Clarke. Clarke disappointed and I never got the impression his character was being danced to death. The final UK premiere was Mthuthuzeli November’s 2024 Thando and he also composed the music. To fast, percussive African sounds of drums, handclapping and chanting there was slower movement from Dutch National Ballet’s Anna Tsygankova and Giorgi Potskhishvili with some standing about, though it appeared to be showing – as the programme suggested – ‘the qualities of love, loving, being loved and the romantic ideal of love’. Finally, the grand pas de deux from Don Quixote was the showstopper you would expect it to be for something stopping the show! From Dutch National Ballet we had the delightful Maia Makhateli, (yet more) fouettés and fluttering fan, and the exciting Timothy van Poucke, one hand lifts, explosive power and impressive elevation and all.
Roll on Ballet Icons Gala 2026!
Jim Pritchard
Featured Image: Curtain call for dancers who performed in Ballet Icons Gala 2025
The Sleeping Beauty
Music – Tchaikovsky
Choreographer – Marius Petipa
Marianela Núñez and William Bracewell
Delibes Suite
Music – Leo Delibes
Choreographer – Jose Martinéz
Iana Salenko and David Motta Soares
Once I had a Love (UK premiere)
Music – Blondie and Philip Glass
Choreography – Sebastian Kloborg
Maria Kochetkova and Sebastian Kloborg
Swan Lake (Black Swan pas de deux)
Music – Tchaikovsky
Choreography – Marius Petipa
Madison Young and Victor Caixeta
Toujours (UK premiere)
Music – Domenico Clapasson
Choreography – Mara Galeazzi
Mara Galeazzi and Jason Kittelberger
Le Corsaire
Music – Adolphe Adam, Riccardo Drigo, Ludwig Minkus
Choreography – Marius Petipa and Joseph Mazilier
Inès McIntosh and Shale Wagman
A Stranding (world premiere)
Music – Max Richter
Choreography – Travis Clausen-Knight and James Pett
Marie-Agnès Gillot, Travis Clausen-Knight and James Pett
Laurencia
Music – Alexander Krein
Choreography – Vakhtang Chabukiani and Mikhail Messerer
Mayara Magri and Giorgi Potskhishvili
Fordländia (UK premiere)
Music – Jóhann Johansson
Choreography – Juango Arqués
Lucia Lacarra and Matthew Golding
Grand Pas Classique
Music – Daniel Auber
Choreography – Victor Gsovsky
Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko
Rubies (from Jewels)
Music – Tchaikovsky
Choreography – George Balanchine
Maria Kochetkova and Osiel Gouneo
Diana and Acteon
Music – Cesare Pugni
Choreography – Agrippina Vaganova and Vakhtang Chabukiani
Margarita Fernandes and António Casalinho
To & Fro
Music – Ottorino Respighi
Choreography – Matthew Ball
Mayara Magri and Matthew Ball
Giselle
Music – Adolphe Adam
Choreography – Marius Petipa (after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot)
Chloe Misseldine and Reece Clarke
Thando (UK premiere)
Music and Choreography – Mthuthuzeli November
Anna Tsygankova and Giorgi Potskhishvili
Don Quixote
Music – Ludwig Minkus
Choreography – Alexander Gorsky after Marius Petipa
Maia Makhateli and Timothy van Poucke