La Fille Mal Gardée Dances Again 4*
La Fille Mal Gardée, The Royal Ballet’s delightful Ashton work, returns to the stage with two double debuts
After a near-ten-year absence from the stage at Covent Garden, this season the Royal Ballet brought back one of the jewels of its repertoire, Sir Frederick Ashton’s glorious La Fille Mal Gardée, in two tranches: in the autumn, and now, at the tail end of the season.
Ashton’s sunny and funny, quintessentially English ballet, set in an idealised English countryside, where, of course!, love conquers all, has a plethora of points of interest: joyous, colourful ensemble dances to show off the company’s corps de ballet, Osbert Lancaster’s painterly designs, Ferdinand Hérold’s score, skilfully arranged by John Lanchbery, and a number of detailed individual roles, where established Ashton interpreters this season alternated with debutants.
The penultimate two performances of the run, on 5 and 6 June, brought two very interesting double debuts in the lead roles of the titular Fille, Lise, and her paramour, Colas. Both new Lises, principal Mayara Magri and first soloist Letícia Dias, are Brazilian and I was tempted to call this review “The Battle of the Brazilian Ballerinas”; but in reality that proved totally off the mark, so I shall concentrate instead on what for me were the revelations of both casts.
The men, first. For an audience there is something tremendously exciting in seeing a dancer throw himself heart and soul into a role, and that, combined with sparkling technique, is what principal Joseph Sissens brought to his Colas.
Visibly hungry to make the role his own, Sissens’ devoured the stage with thrilling split jumps and harmonious arabesque lines, delighting in the comedy, unfazed by the profusion of props he had to handle, and offering steady partnering to his Lise, Letícia Dias, though some of his lifts could be a little stronger. No matter: Sissens created an exhilarating Colas. Bravo!
Magri’s Colas was first soloist Leo Dixon, in his first performance after a long layoff due to injury.
Dixon is handsome, very elegant and an empathetic partner; and if his interpretation was a little less ebullient than Sissens’, it was never less than elegant and fully professional, and he made it very clear why Lise would fall for this cheeky, flirty and oh-so-good-looking Colas. Welcome back to the stage, Leo Dixon, we missed you!
The major revelation for me was James Hay as Alain, the son of a prosperous and overbearing vineyard owner, and Lise’s reluctant suitor.
Alain is a problematic role: clearly not all there, often befuddled by his surroundings, clinging to his red umbrella as a sort of comfort blanket, this young man has to make us laugh with him, but not cruelly at him. James Hay created an irresistible character, who lived in his own happy world, a bright grin on his face, never letting any setback mar his enjoyment of life for very long. His Alain immediately engaged our sympathy, and he tackled the fiendish comedic off-centre choreography with aplomb. He set up the template against which I’ll judge every other Alain.
Last but not least, the ballerinas. Mayara Magri’s vibrant personality and acting ability shone through her strong technique and powerful jump.
Her Lise is very human, sexy and wilful, mischievous and tender, a young woman who knows she has her lover twisted around her little finger, but still makes him work for her love. Ever resourceful, she knows how to get around her mother, the daunting Widow Simone (a role en travesti, which Thomas Whitehead inhabits with mesmerising comedic spirit), and in their scenes together Magri handles the mix of love and exasperation with great skill.
Letícia Dias’ Lise is a touch gentler, her technique assured, but less showy than Magri’s. She appears to understand the role, but perhaps first night nerves prevented her abandoning herself entirely to its demands. There was chemistry between her Lise and Sissens’ Colas, which made their romance credible.
I think as they bed into the role both ballerinas will be able to concentrate on perfecting the Ashton style, particularly when it comes to the soft, pliable upper body and port de bras; but for now both gave us competent, enjoyable debuts.
©Teresa Guerreiro
(Banner image: Letícia Dias and Josephn Sissens in La Fille Mal Gardée © 2026 Mihaela Bodlovic)
Read my review of La Fille Mal Gardée starring Natalia Osipova and Patricio Revé