BALLET
"Donald of the Burthens." (Covent Garden.) MASSINE'S eagerly awaited Scottish ballet, Donald of the Burthens, was presented at Covent Garden last week. With such good material —a famous choreographer, two fine leading dancers, a pair of gifted young painters, a story full of opportunity and adequate music— one might well wonder why the ballet fails to make its impact. For reluctantly it has to be admitted that Donald is not the brilliant piece of work that we had expected it would be. To begin with the choreographer's intentions remain strangely obscure. It does not matter that one imagined a ballet based on such a legend would be stark and dramatic in treatment, for naturally the choreographer is absolutely free to interpret according to his feelings. But it does matter when this interpretation is not carried through consistently, and this is the major fault in Donald of the Burthens. For the main character, Death, seen as a devilish, Mephistophelian being, stands as far removed in mood from its light-hearted, near- burlesque background as would a figure from Picasso's Guernica if imposed upon a Dufy landscape. Also, it is surely not too much to ask that the story should be understandable simply through its miming and dancing and without the aid of programme notes. To quote one instance. The pact between Donald and Death, upon which hangs the whole story, passes by literally unnoticed until the episode of the baby's recovery forces one to the realisation that it has already taken place. Moreover, Death should be on the scene to permit Donald to save the child and cure the Goat Men. This would make her demand for the King's death more emphatic and telling, and would also properly lead up to the ballet's first climax. But, if the evening spelt a certain failure for Massine, it meant a complete and sure triumph for Beryl Grey, dancing the part of Death. This is, belatedly, the first major role she has ever created, and the first important part she has danced since her long illness. If her admirers were anxious as to whether she would make her " come-back," their fears were immediately dispelled. To put it simply, she was brilliant. It is doubtful whether anyone without ballet training can realise the technical difficulties of the enchaine- ments arranged for Grey by Massine. The two double pirouettes en dehors, without any preparation and divided by a double tour- en-lair, ending sharply on one knee, and the whole taken at great speed, is an arrangement to frighten the most intrepid dancer. This and more was done with the greatest apparent ease and assurance, and above all the whole character was portrayed with the artistry and command of a mature ballerina. It is no wonder that Massine was excited at having such a dancer to work with, for excited he must have been to have allowed this part to become so much out of focus, with the whole. Alexander Grant was less fortunate, An excellent and proved character dancer, he was never able to develop the role created for him. Indeed, it seemed as if he and the rest of the company hardly realised what the ballet was about. MacBryde and Colquhoun made a nice job of the costumes and settings, and, as was only to be expected, they carefully avoided the obvious. I think the strong patterning on the monoliths rather detracted from the dancers, and that some of the girls' costumes in Scene II were a little too pretty. But the production gave a feeling of authenticity and care which
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