The variety in this mixed programme makes it enticing as much for anyone just discovering the thrill of worldclass dance as for Royal Ballet regulars. It is a great combination of virtuosity, contrasting moods and beautiful images, with music to match. Rhapsody was created by Frederick Ashton for Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lesley Collier, with choreography to suit their star reputations. It is a fabulous work for today's Royal Ballet virtuoso dancers, contrasting lyrical pas de deux with astounding solos. Alastair Marriott's Sensorium - in its first revival - is a response to the evolving atmospheres of Debussy Preludes, within warm and spacious designs and with undercurrents of intimacy. David Bintley's 'Still Life' at the Penguin Caf? is a famously popular ballet, not seen in full at the Royal Opera House since 1993. With a timely theme of protection and preservation of the natural world, it is joyful, amusing, exuberant and provocative as endangered species take to the stage in dancing styles from ballroom to morris, introduced by penguin waiters. A riot of dance and colour, it brings the whole programme to a poignant and perfect end.

News: Published on Sunday 1 March 2011 at 01:25