Companhia Nacional de Bailado, Triple Bill Review 4*
The dancers of Portugal’s Companhia National de Bailado give their all in the varied, demanding triple bill Forsythe/McNicol/Balanchine
The works featured in the Forsythe/McNicol/Balanchine triple bill have much in common: all display the choreographers’ meticulous responses to their music, with choreographic languages that stretch movement well beyond the classical ballet that forms their basis. And all three entered the repertoire in the past year.
Yet there the similarities end, for while William Forsythe’s Workwithinwork and George Balanchine’s Stravinsky Violin Concerto are simply about pure dance, Andrew McNicol’s Upstream is a deeply evocative work inspired by the city of Lisbon and its proximity to the mighty river Tagus.
And as an especially commissioned piece, Upstream builds on the strengths of Companhia Nacional de Bailado (CNB) .
The magic, mystery and powerful imaginary of water pervade Upstream, Peter Gregson’s atmospheric score and Yaron Abufalia’s sets and lighting design joining McNicol’s choreography to create a lush, dreamy, enveloping visual.
An uneven backdrop of soft, lightly corrugated foil evokes flowing water, with hazy or directional light endowing it with a movement all its own. Helena de Medeiros’ costumes give deep blue tights to the men and lacy shimmering bodices to the women.
Set on four ensemble pairs and one lead couple – Patricia Main and Miguel Ramalho compelling on opening night – McNicol’s choreography flows unhurriedly, now languorous, now meeting the urgency in the score. Women raised high by their partners are reminiscent of floating water nymphs.
A muscular solo for the lead man mirrors the tempestuous syncopations of the score, but by a trick of the light he slowly fades away as the storm subsides.
McNicol, one of the most musical young choreographers working today, uses the vocabulary of classical ballet to create recognisable, yet strikingly fresh and eloquent movement, and one of the wonders of Upstream is how completely it captures the essence of a city oriented to water. It’s a fitting addition to CNB’s eclectic repertoire.
The programme opens with William Forsythe’s Workwithinwork, premiered by his Frankfurt Ballet in 1998. Set to Luciano Berio’s ‘Duetti para 2 Violini, Vol 1’, it’s not one of the choreographer’s most extreme works, but it exhibits all his trademark deconstruction of classical ballet steps: broken wrists with palms forward, flexed feet, off-centre arabesques, contraction and release, and occasionally vertiginous spinning.
Workwithinwork, William Forsythe, Companhia Nacional de Ballet © Hugo David 2025
It’s a deliberately stop/start, fragmentary work for 16 dancers that follows the structure of Berio’s deceptively simple duets.
George Balanchine’s 1972 Stravinsky Violin Concerto, brand new to CNB this season, closed the programme, with the welcome novelty of live music by the Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, with violinist Alexis Hatch.
Nobody dances Balanchine like his own company, New York City Ballet; but guided by Maria Calegari and Bart Crook of the Balanchine Trust, who restaged the work for CNB, these dancers captured some of the master’s quirks, attack and speed of execution.
Bookended by an expansive opening Toccata, which introduces the twenty dancers, all in black and white practice costumes, and the final Capriccio, which Balanchine infuses with Russian folk dances, are two contrasting duets.
Aria I, features a tall, strong woman who meets her partner on an equal basis, Inês Ferrer and Miguel Ramalho giving a strong account of a combative duet. By contrast, the slow Aria II is full of yearning legato movement, where the woman, Tatiana Grenkova, appears entirely dependent on the guidance of her partner, Lourenço Ferreira.
Stravinsky Violin Concerto, George Balanchine. Companhia Nacional de Bailado © Hugo David 2025
In its nearly five decades the government-financed CNB has had its ups and down inevitably related to the vagaries of politics; but this triple bill tells us the 70-strong company, under the fresh direction of former principal dancer, choreographer and teacher Fernando Duarte, is currently on a high and brimming with confidence.
© Teresa Guerreiro
(Banner image credit: Companhia Nacional de Bailado in George Balanchine’s Stravinsky Violin Concerto © Hugo David 2025)
Companhia Nacional de Ballet, Forsythe/McNicol/Balanchine is at Teatro Camōes, Lisbon, 20 Feb – 2 March 2025. All info and tickets here