BALLET
Arts Theatre and Sadler's Wells.
THERE is this difference between Russian and English ballet companies: where the one tends to be fissiparous, the other inclines to the kaleidoscopic. In accordance with this prin- ciple, the Arts Theatre Club Ballet contains a number of the dancers who appeared at their eponymous theatre as members of the London Ballet a few weeks ago, and has borrowed as choreographer of one of its productions a member of the Vic-Wells Ballet who also appeared in the first performance of his own work. This friendly interchange of personnel is more attractive, if less romantic and exciting, than the frenzied jealousies and rivalries associated in the public's imagination with the profession of dancing.
I wish it were possible to hail with more enthusiasm the products of the new company, if this aggregation of mostly familiar names deserves the adjective. But even were I not convinced that the classical symphonic form is an unsuitable basis for a ballet, it would not be easy to find much to say in favour of'Keith Leister's association of mythological figures with Mozart's Pianoforte Concerto in C minor. -It was all rather like a tame version of the slow movement in Massine's Symphonie Fantastique, and that is quite tedious enough. There was a little liveliness in the finale, thanks to the appear- ance of Miss Prudence Hyman, a dancer with a personality' that can be relied upon to make its mark. The costumes by Miss Fedorovitch were attractive, though I thought the ostrich- plumes that sprouted from all sorts of improbable places—is fact, anywhere except where they grow in nature—and the entry of one dancer couchant, dormant under mosquito- curtains sable were rather ridiculous.
Harold Turner's ballet May Collin to Bax's Tintagel is, so far as I know, this dancer's first essay in choreography, at least on a large scale. It shows, naturally enough, the influence of Frederick Ashton, but it also has original invention, which is hampered by the fact that there is too much music for the action of the last scene. Mr. Turner danced the leading male part on the first night with Miss Gould as his partner. Per- haps because the part was not designed for himself, he has not given to it the kind of movements in which he particularly excels as a dancer.
Sadler's Wells, where the Ballet ends its present season tomorrow (i.e., Saturday), having an engagement next week at Cambridge, has shown its ability to carry on in the face of difficulties by staging the most ambitious piece in the repertory, The Sleeping Princess, and by producing a novelty, cal'ed Dante Sonata. The only disappointing thing about Tchaikovsky's ballet is the decor, which is dull and dowdy when it should be bright and sparkling. The performance was quite first-rate. The new piece was devised by Frederick Ashton and Constant Lambert during the company's tour without orchestra in the autumn. The music is Liszt's "Dante" Fantasia, and it has now been scored for pianoforte (Mr. Louis Kenner) and orchestra by Mr. Lambert.
Dante Sonata is the most distinguished addition to the serious ballet that has been made since lob. It marks an advance even upon Ashton's most successful previous essay in tragedy, Apparitions. It tells no story, but it achieves poetry, and so avoids the rapidity that usually marks the " abstract " ballet. It presents a vision of souls in Purgatory and Hell that sometimes rivals the imaginative horror of Ruben's " Fall of the Damned." The decor and costumes by Miss Fedorovitch and the skilful lighting contributed to the effect produced by the dancing of the company, which is excellent throughout.
DYNELEY HUSSEY.
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