Birmingham Royal Ballet – Luna at Birmingham Hippodrome Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Janine Rumble
Yesterday evening, I visited Birmingham Hippodrome, where I was lucky enough to attend the world premiere of the ballet, Luna, a contemporary ballet ‘choreographed by five female choreographers from around the world who have taken inspiration from the pioneering women of Birmingham’ and performed by dancers by the Birmingham Royal Ballet, directed by Carlos Acosta CBE with music by Kate Whitley.
Luna is the final part of Carlos Acosta’s Birmingham trilogy. Having not seen the first two parts, City or a Thousand Trades and Black Sabbath, does not detract from this amazing ballet. The performances are breathtaking, the stamina and grace of the dancers is awe inspiring. I do not think you would have had to have watched the previous two ballets to enjoy this spectacular ballet.
The ballet is split up into two acts with three scenes in each act, all with a different theme. Each scene ‘tells a story tackling universal themes through sweeping dramatic movement and intense, intimate moments of darkness and light’, hence the title Luna. Luna is a ‘journey to the moon and back told with love, compassion and creativity, and grounded in real life experience’. I particularly liked the dance with the glowing books and the stars and fireworks at the end.
The performance began and ended with a large group of children dancing and singing. They sounded beautiful and danced very well. They were the Birmingham Chorus and added a different element to proceedings.
The stage is very basic with the background used to show pictures/illustrations linked to the dance being performed.
The costumes were simple, but effective in helping to tell the story.
Royal Ballet Sinfonia conducted by Paul Murphy consisted of First Violins, second violins, violas, cellos, double basses, flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, timpani and percussion. All the music performed fitted so well with the ballet and both were in perfect sync with each other. I especially liked the theme tune from Casualty performed as the dancers performed a tribute to the NHS.
Luna is on at Birmingham Hippodrome until Saturday 5th October. Tickets are from £20 and available from birminghamhippodrome.com before heading to Sadlers Wells in London.
If you are a fan of contemporary ballets, then I would highly recommend this. The dancers are just amazing and make the story telling and dancing look so effortless. And the dancers who had a longer dance to perform were just incredible. They were so graceful and so compelling to watch. With so many dancers on the stage at times, it was difficult to watch them all, but they were all incredibly talented that I wanted to just sit and watch them all. The group dances, where they all interacted with each other, were also incredible.
Personally, as in awe as I was with the choreography and the performance, I wish I understood it better and how this linked with the women of Birmingham! It was only until I read through the programme after the performance that I began to understand what each act represented and the story they told. For this, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars!
Rating: 4/5