English National Ballet School/Rambert School Review 4*
English National Ballet School and Rambert School showed off their students in a shared programme at the Linbury
English National Ballet School and Rambert School have similar structures and missions: both run three-year graduation programmes for dance students, and both are attached to professional companies, into which some of their graduates will progress.
But whereas ENBS has classical ballet as its main focus, Rambert School is at the cutting edge of contemporary dance.
In their shared programme for Next Generation Festival, students from both schools showed proficiency in their main disciplines, as well as the versatility increasingly required of dancers, with seven pieces – three from ENBS, four from Rambert School.
And while most had merit, none delighted me more than Richard Alston’s Waltzes in Disorder, with which Rambert School opened the second half of the programme.
Since the Arts Council went on one of its periodic fits of tight-fistedness leading Richard Alston to wind up his company, we haven’t seen much – if any – of his work in London.
That’s a veritable loss because Alston remains an intensely musical choreographer, who creates flowing harmonious movement with the hand and eye of a master.
Waltzes in Disorder, created 26 years ago to Brahms’s Liebeslieder Waltzer and since tweaked a little, is pure Alston, and the cast of 13 second year students appeared to enjoy its blend of freedom and rigour. Elegant and graceful movement flowed continuously, with full use of deep plié, arms and torso often reaching up off centre or leaning forward in arabesque allongée.
The loose relationships between the men, all in black, and the women wearing tunics in fresh pastel colours, were momentarily disrupted by a man in white, before balance was (somewhat) restored.
Rambert School in Richard Alston’s Waltzes in Disorder. Photo Amber Hunt, Photography by ASH
It was a treat for the eyes and a deep cleanse for the soul.
It contrasted with the remaining three works in Rambert’s programme, two of which, Julian Nichols’s The Inn Between, seemingly set in an authoritarian institution, and particularly Miguel Altunaga’s The Hilkravrs (no, me neither and google didn’t help) were clearly influenced by Hofesh Shechter, the latter beyond the point of homage. Faye Stoeser’s Lunar Tales was an interesting attempt to create narrative language suitable to an outlandish night-time setting.
Rambert School in Faye Stoeser’s Lunar Tales. Photo Amber Hunt, Photography by ASH
ENBS had two impeccably classical pieces and a folk-contemporary extravaganza. The programme opened with Etudes on a Theme of Satie, by the School Artistic Director Lynne Charles, with solo piano by Zhu Sun. It was set in a ballet studio complete with barres, where eight women and four men went through their paces, while a single woman at the back embodied the effort, pain and frustration behind the smooth façade of perfection her colleagues projected.
All did well.
Charles also authored the pas de deux Aphiēmi, set to music by Tchaikovsky. Danced with tremendous elegance by Zai Calliste (who’s just graduated straight into the company) and Haru Yokoo, it was inspired by, and quoted liberally from Act IV of Swan Lake.
It was a very clever way of showing the dancers’ remarkable ability without imposing on them the stress of a well-known, hugely demanding classic. Both excelled.
Ruff Celts, which closed the programme, was an at times disconcerting, but never less than entertaining riff on Celtic folk dances by the Irish dancer and choreographer Marguerite Donlon.
It showed beyond doubt just how far from classical tradition these students can go and still shine.
© Teresa Guerreiro
(Banner image credit: Dancers of ENB School in Etudes on a Theme of Satie. Photography by ASH)
English National Ballet School/Rambert School performed at Next Generation Festival on 27 June 2025 at 2 pm and 7.15 pm.
Next Generation festival ends on 29 June 2025 with performances by ZooNation Youth Company. Info and tickets here