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Fire and Fury: Two Ballets Fuelled By Power and Politics. A Birmingham Royal Ballet Production.

Posted on 05/10/201805/10/2018

On Wednesday night I was lucky enough to watch Fire and Fury at Birmingham Hippodrome. And as I’ve said on my twitter account (@mummytrips) it was utterly breathtaking.

The first half was The King Dances, a much loved favourite for many avid ballet fans as it is freely based on Le Ballet de la nuit, 1653. In the lift on the way for mid performance drinks, a gentleman was asking why it was so short. “It was marvellous, why did it have to end?” And I felt the same. I was captivated watching the story unfold and could have continued watching for hours. The dancers playing various characters (demons, messieurs, magicians), all so believeable for that moment.

Tyrone Singleton was absolutely amazing as La Nuit and Kit Holder stood out as a Demon. But my favourites were Aitor Galende and Gus Payne at the moment they were portraying wolves (Loups-garous). The movement was so realistic that I couldn’t take my eyes off them the whole time that they were on the stage.

For those who do not know the story, Le Ballet de la nuit of 1653 sees a 14 year old King dancing five roles in what some scholars believe was an extremely lavish 12 hour ballet featuring witches, werewolves, gypsies, shepherds, thieves and the goddesses Venus and Diana.

The King Dances takes Le Ballet de la nuit as its starting point but explores the journey that male dancing took from its beginnings in the Court of Louis XIV to the unparalled virtuosity of today’s classical dancers.

And it was a beautiful performance with fantastic choreography by David Bintley and music from Stephen Montague.

The second Ballet performance of the evening was the World Premiere of Ignite. A co-production between Birmingham Royal Ballet and Dutch National Opera and Ballet and is a Ballet Now commission.

This was my personal favourite of the evening. It was elegant, beautiful, dramatic, colourful and captivating. The choreography was fantastic. The movement between the dancers looked so effortless and yet must have taken so much strength and stamina. Making ballet dancers look like they weighed nothing more than feathers, the ease of lifting them up and down. And the ballerinas Pointe techniques were absolutely stunning. With one scene nearly wholly on pointe leaving me breathless.

The performance Ignite is a choreographic unfolding of a painting by William Turner, The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons dating from 1835. The picture captured the violence and also its beauty and Ignite is the analysis of movement from this still picture. Translating the turbulent colours in the picture and bringing them to the stage. Leaving the viewer to see the picture partly through the choreographers eyes (almost like a guide) but mostly through their own interpretation. It was immense.

I really enjoyed the set – a reflective surface of hanging mirrors with spaces in between that let the light pass through. It highlighted the colours, light and the dancers on the stage.

My stand out ballet dancer was Mathias Dingman as Sky. I was impressed to see him dancing only a week after I went to see him play Colas in Le Fille Mal Gardée. His movement and presence on the stage is eye catching and stunning. And his connection on stage with his duet partner River (Delia Matthews) was perfect.

Royal Ballet Sinfonia were brilliant as usual, led by conductor Jonathan Lo.

A fantastic 5 star evening, highly recommended by Smallhousebigtrips.

If you too would like to go, there are a few £10 tickets available for tonight’s performance (5th October 2018) if you put code FURY10 into the code section at the online checkout. Please follow the link here to book tickets: www.birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/birmingham-royal-ballet-fire-fury/

If you go, please do come back and comment on this post, letting me know what you thought of it.

Disclaimer: I was invited along to the press night in return for an honest review. I loved it and cannot wait for the next ballet by the phenomenal Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Photographer is mentioned in each picture, in the top left corner. The majority are by the very talented Andrew Ross. Take a look at Andy Ross Images (@andyrossimages): https://twitter.com/andyrossimages?s=09

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