Names on the roster of the twelfth Ballet Nights were, as usual, names to conjure with

United Kingdom Ballet Nights 012: 3rd Birthday Programme: Cadogan Hall, London, 28.9.2026. (JO’D)

Yasmine Naghdi and Reece Clarke (from The Royal Ballet); Sangeun Lee and Gareth Haw (from English National Ballet): the names on the roster were, as usual, names to conjure with. Yet the highlights of this twelfth Ballet Nights might be said to have come from dancers who are less well known, in Britain at least, or who are yet to be known: Cape Town City Ballet’s Hannah Ward and Leusson Muniz in Orpheus in the Underworld; Maka Egawa and Alejandro Rosa Constantino, from the Acosta Dance Foundation, in Don Quixote Suite.

Ballet Nights Founder and Artistic Director, Jamiel Devernay-Laurence, handed over the job of compère on this occasion to fundraiser and former dancer, Anaish Yilma Parmar. A little nervous at the start, the latter relaxed into a pleasingly straightforward presentation of the eight pas de deux (for male and female dancer) and one solo (for male dancer) that made up the programme.

Before the dance, a musical prologue in the form of an arrangement, or staging, of The Sleeping Beauty Waltz by Quartet Concrète. Then Yasmine Naghdi and Reece Clarke, in Grecian tunics of pale green, reprised the daring, Bolshoi lifts of Asaf Messerer’s Spring Waters Pas de Deux (music by Rachmaninov). Hannah Ward and Leusson Muniz, in body suits of pale blue, made their first appearance of the evening in Garry Trinder’s Pie Jesu (to music from Fauré’s Requiem). The longer-held lifts of this pas de deux seemed meant to suggest the spiritual, the heavenly, at one point a Deposition from the Cross. In a piece that hovers on the edge of kitsch, the dancers impressed by their strength, confidence and commitment, and by the evident understanding between them.

There Were Storms (choreographed by Travis Clausen-Knight) was performed by English National Ballet’s Harris Bell. A solo that is as much about the dancer’s bare torso in deep shadow as about the movements he makes. Liam Woodvine’s Breath, Anaish Yilma Parmar explained before it began, is set in a nuclear bunker. The choreographer himself and Taylor Hughes, in gasmasks linked as if by an umbilical cord, danced the struggle between the partner who wants to stay in the bunker and the one who wants to leave. Despite the subject matter, the piece had a lightness; it knew not to outstay its welcome. Before the interval, Sangeun Lee and Gareth Haw brought their long-limbed expertise to David Dawson’s rather cold, rather dark On the Nature of Daylight (music by Max Richter).

The second half of the evening began with Quartet Concrète, joined by baritone Michael Lafferty in a familiar Rossini aria. Hannah Ward and Leusson Muniz then returned, in costumes redolent of the fin de siècle, for Veronica Piper’s Orpheus in the Underworld (music by Offenbach). Strength, confidence, mutual understanding and this time, above all, wit. The upbeat mood continued with Don Quixote Suite (choreographed by Carlos Acosta to music by Minkus). Making their professional debut, the young Maka Egawa and Alejandro Rosa Constantino glittered with musicality, precision and a sense of enjoyment.

The atmosphere became sombre again in James Wilton Dance’s athletic Loki, although the bare arms of dancer and choreographer, James Wilton, and his partner, Sarah-Jane Taylor, combined to make attractive patterns against the dark background. The evening ended with Yasmine Naghdi and Reece Clarke in two, oddly costumed pas de deux of unease from Kenneth MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations of 1974, when the music of Scott Joplin was all the rage. The focus is on the female dancer in her particoloured top hat, a cane under her arm. The male dancer has virtually nothing to do, except lift his partner, and carry her off the stage at the end.

John O’Dwyer

Featured Image: Reece Clarke and Yasmine Naghdi in Elite Syncopations © Deborah Jaffe

PART I

Sleeping Beauty Waltz
Performed by Quartet Concrète
Composer – Tchaikovsky (arranged by Violist Dominic Stokes)

Spring Waters Pas De Deux
Performed by Yasmine Naghdi and Reece Clarke
Choreographed by Asaf Messerer​
Composer – Rachmaninov​

Pie Jesu
Danced by Hannah Ward and Leusson Muniz
Choreography by Garry Trinder​
Producer – Tracy Li
Composer – Fauré

There Were Storms
Performed by Harris Bell
Choreographed by Travis Clausen-Knight, PCK Dance
Composer – Silvestrov

​BREATH
Performed by Liam Woodvine & Taylor Hughes
Choreographed by Liam Woodvine
Costume – Asli Ozuak​​​​

On The Nature of Daylight
Performed by Sangeun Lee and Gareth Haw
Choreography and Concept by David Dawson
Composer – Richter
Costume – Yumiko Takeshima​

PART II

‘Largo al factotum’ from Il barbiere di Siviglia
Performed by Quartet Concrète
Baritone – Michael Lafferty
Composer – Rossini (arranged for String Quartet by Dominic Stokes)

Orpheus in the Underworld
Danced by Hannah Ward and Leusson Muniz
Choreographed by Veronica Paeper
Producer – Tracy Li
Music – Arranged by Michael Tuffin
Costume – Peter Cazalet

Don Quixote Suite
Danced by Maka Egawa and Alejandro Rosa Constantino
Choreography by Carlos Acosta
Staging – Aydmara Cabrera
Composer – Minkus

Excerpt from LOKI
Danced by James Wilton and Sarah Jane-Taylor
Choreographed by James Wilton Dance

Excerpts from Elite Syncopations: ‘Stoptime Rag’ and ‘Bethena Rag Waltz’
Performed by Yasmine Naghdi and Reece Clarke
Choreographer – Kenneth MacMillan
Composer – Joplin
Costume – Ian Spurling

Compère – Anaish Yilma Parmar