The Royal Ballet, Legacy Review ★★★★★

The Royal Ballet’s Anglo-Caribbean principal dancer, Joseph Sissens, has long been a vocal advocate of greater inclusion in the traditionally rarified world of ballet; and Legacy, a programme he’s curated with the support of Royal Ballet director Kevin O’Hare, is intended as a celebration of Black and Brown talent throughout the ballet world.

Or, as he puts it in a poetic programme note, it honours ‘people who have in the past put themselves in vulnerable positions to continue to push forward, so that each and every dancer in this programme can hold their own space.’

That they all do in spades, offering skilled, committed, often thrilling dance, even if the twelve-piece programme is quite uneven.

It opens with an excerpt from Wayne McGregor’s Chroma (pictured top) danced by Sissens and Royal Ballet colleagues Caspar Lench and Francisco Serrano.On the bare, brightly lit Linbury stage, they bring energy and precision to the exacting geometry of McGregor’s ultra-modern choreography.

Sissens, an immaculate classical dancer, is joined in Part 2 by the Royal Ballet’s Marianna Tsembenhoi in Awakening, a pas de deux from Ashton’s The Sleeping Beauty to music by Tchaikovsky.

Marianna Tsembenhoi, Joseph Sissens in Awakening pas de deux, Legacy © 2024 ROH. Photo: Andrej Uspenski

In the programme’s blend of classical and contemporary, British and American, some of the most thrilling pieces came from the USA, none more so, perhaps, than Sinner Man, an extract from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s signature work, Revelations (a firm favourite of mine), which exploded onto the the stage courtesy of AAADT dancers Chalvar Monteiro, Xavier Mack and Christopher R. Wilson.

AAADT's Chalvar Monteiro, Xavier Mack and Christopher Wilson in Alvin Ailey's Revelations © 2024 ROH. Photo: Andrej Uspenski

Robert Battle, former AAADT director, choreographed Takademe, set to a rhythmic Indian voice piece by Sheila Chandra. It skilfully quotes from Indian dance, blending it with virtuoso ballet and contemporary movement; and it found a mesmerising interpreter in one of the Royal Ballet’s brightest young dancers, Casper Lench.

Caspar Lench in Takademe by Robert Battle, Legacy © 2024 Ian Hippolyte

Lench would be joined by a hugely exciting new Royal Ballet School graduate, Emile Gooding, in a sparkling performance of the short male duet from Christopher Wheeldon’s In The Golden Hour, another highlight of the programme

All major British ballet companies now include Black and Brown dancers; Legacy featured Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Céline Gittens and Yasiel Hodelín Bello and English National Ballet’s Precious Adams and Junor Souza, who offered a yearning performance of Wheeldon’s This Bitter Earth.

Junor Souza, Precious Adams in This Bitter Earth, Legacy © 2024 Ian Hippolyte

The pioneer of Black dancing in the UK was, of course, Ballet Black, which is now entering its third successful decade. It was represented in Legacy by Isabella Coracy. A strong, assertive dancer, Coracy brought to Eightfold: Strength by the American choreographer Hope Boykin the qualities of her much admired portrayal of Nina Simone for her home company.

Isabela Coracy in Eightfold - Strength, Legacy © 2024 Ian Hippolyte
A new work for five dancers by the talented young choreographer Arielle Smith, Pass It On, brought Legacy to a bright, jazzy, humorous and most enjoyable end.

In a necessarily bitty programme, which felt a little like a catalogue, Sissens’s initiative more than proved its point; but with the majority of performers hailing from other countries, we can only hope that a future edition will feature more home-grown British talent.