Sara Veale

Tranquil, silky and serene: Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Lazuli Sky reviewed

Carlos Acosta's first programme as the BRB's new artistic director is a winner

Tom Rogers and Yu Kurihara with artists of Birmingham Royal Ballet in 'Lazuli Sky'. Photo: Johan Persson

When Carlos Acosta was named artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet in January of this year, he announced ambitious plans for his inaugural season, but the pandemic swiftly derailed these. Lazuli Sky, recently performed for live audiences in Birmingham and London, is his first commission to come to fruition, and while the programme has been scaled down from its original incarnation — with fewer dancers, musicians and audience members — it lives up to the panache of the company’s usual mixed bills and even manages to pull off a world première by Will Tuckett, a lodestar of contemporary British ballet.

The titular work, Lazuli Sky, is Tuckett’s ode to nature’s glorious blues, namely the penetrating azure of the lapis lazuli stone, which Da Vinci used as a guiding hue for his skies. With its tranquil mood and silky, geometric phrases, the ballet is an abstract departure from Tuckett’s usual narrative fare as well as from the loud showpieces, such as The King Dances, of David Bintley’s tenure at BRB’s helm. There are springing leaps, thoughtful couplings, scenic projections, all pulsing with positive energy. Arranged against the galloping strings of John Adams’s Shaker Loops, the choreography radiates serenity, capturing the majestic repose of the natural world.

Acosta offers beauty in a world riven with pain, dance that’s pleasing, animated and deft

The work introduces gentle drama with giant origami skirts that unfold like sails and a lighting design tinged with hazy indigos and cobalts. The 12 dancers are stars twinkling in the firmament, birds chasing a tailwind. It might be because of all the time that they spent away from the stage, but there’s a whiff of restraint to their performance, as if the cast is wary of being too rough with this precious piece of live theatre. They have its technical components down pat; it would be nice to see them approach its sentiments with more abandon.

Two new company acquisitions round off the bill.

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