Review: Ballet Nights/New Futures, Lanterns Studio Theatre ★★★★★

If you attract dancers of the calibre of Sangeun Lee and Gareth Haw, English National Ballet’s star pair, you can’t go wrong. And in the current edition of Ballet Nights we got to see them not once, as initially advertised, but twice, as they stepped in at short notice to replace an act felled by injury.

They closed Part 1 of the show with the dreamy Act II pas de deux from Swan Lake, and changed into vigorous contemporary mode to close Part 2 with a brand new duet especially commissioned from Jordan James Bridge, Terra/Astra.

Plucking a pas de deux from a story ballet and making it live is not easy; but with their artistry and mutual chemistry Lee and Haw transported us to that mythical lakeside, she the ethereal swan-woman, he the insistent pursuer, a safe partner who knows just how to make his ballerina shine.

Terra/Astra is a totally different proposition. Now clad in Sara MacKenzie’s shiny, body-hugging brown leotards, Haw and Lee responded to Hans Zimmer’s score, played live by Lanterns resident pianist Viktor Erik Emanuel with the speed, vigour and definition required by the meeting of land (Haw) and the stars (Lee) in Bridge’s whirlwind choreography.

Ballet Nights, Sangeun Lee and Gareth Haw in Terra/Astra by Jordan James Bridge Photo: Viktor Erik Emanuel

Because I couldn’t bear to miss a single second of their performances, I stood up to watch; for the reality is that the sightlines at Lanterns remain a problem, and the head of the punter in front of me obliterated a wide diagonal section of the stage. Ballet Nights has the thrilling proximity between audience and dancers as its unique selling point; but that counts for little if your view is significantly obscured. I docked one star from my rating for that reason.

A pity, because, from what I was able to see, there was a lot to enjoy in a vibrant programme. Minju Kang was all charm and technical assurance in the tricky solo from Act I of Giselle; and was deeply affecting as a grief-stricken young woman in After a Dream, choreographed by her ENB colleague Rentaro Nakaaki.

James Cousin’s Jealousy (pictured top), first performed in Ballet Nights' recent outing to Ministry of Sound, stood out here, too. Bathed in red light, Brenda Lee Grech and Tom David Dunn were the lovers whose entangled bodies never lost touch with each other in an intense, gripping duet.

I didn't get the gist of Nicholas Shoesmith's Insomnia, as the three dancers kept moving in and out of my field of vision.

A seven-strong ensemble of students from Rambert School put on a welcome appearance; Estonian National Ballet’s Eve Mutso gave a flowing rendition of a Peter Darrell solo from Mahler’s Five Rückert Songs, accompanied by Emanuel on piano and the mezzo soprano Dana Mays.

In a radical change of mood, Guy Salim on drums beat the syncopated rhythm for a thrilling, vigorous dance by Kennedy Junior Muntanga.

Jamiel Devernay-Laurence, the founder and director of Ballet Nights, was his usual smooth compere, introducing each number with a light touch and just the required amount of information.

Only one item fell flat: the ‘mystery performer’. Something to do with dancers serving drinks at some do Devernay-Laurence recently attended, it involved a famous chef whose name escaped me (there was no printed programme or cast sheet), offering cocktails to punters in the front row, after which a couple danced an awkward duet while holding cocktail glasses. Worth trying, sure; but definitely not worth repeating.