Birmingham Royal Ballet in Luna

Birmingham Royal Ballet has just premiered Luna, their tribute, using a flotilla of creatives, to the great women of Birmingham.

Birmingham Royal Ballet in Arielle Smith’s ‘Empowerment’, part of ‘Luna’. © @FoteiniPhoto

Birmingham Royal Ballet
Luna
★★✰✰✰
Birmingham, Hippodrome
3 October 2024
www.brb.org.uk
www.birminghamhippodrome.com

Birmingham Royal Ballet’s (BRB) Luna is the third and last instalment in Carlos Acosta’s trilogy celebrating the company’s home city. First, they celebrated Birmingham’s industrial heritage, immigrants and workers in City of a Thousand Trades with one choreographer and poetry from Birmingham’s Poet Laureate. Next up was Black Sabbath - The Ballet, toasting the city’s most successful band in three acts with three choreographers and a lot more creatives. And now Luna, which takes inspiration from the pioneering women of Birmingham, but picking up on universal women’s themes and using an all-female creative team of 10, with five choreographers and folding in a large Children’s Chorus. Coupled with this, Acosta has been clear that he doesn’t want to use ‘usual suspects’ choreographers but newer faces to the UK. No bad thing, but there are some risks in using newer faces on significant main-stage works.

At each stage of the trilogy, the creative numbers involved have gone up, and with that, the risk and the potential for loss of focus and clarity. Black Sabbath — The Ballet worked (as a show), I think, because of nostalgia and a simple theme. But sadly, the weight of creative endeavours in Luna means what should have been a huge celebration that put Birmingham and The Second Sex, FIRST and foremost, instead drifted and felt confused and, for me, exasperating. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever gone to a BRB premiere in Birmingham and not seen the normally open-hearted audience give the work a standing ovation come the end.

Luna comprises six segments, each about 15 minutes long, with an interval after the first three pieces. The opening and closing segments are strangely about the Earth (Terra) and the Moon (Luna). So, from the very start, we are all thoroughly confused as to how this relates to the great women of Birmingham. On the BRB website, there’s a barrage of videos about the themes in Luna, and the programme has many words about each segment, but really, the steps and staging should clearly speak for themselves. Surely.

Terra is about the cycle of life on Earth, and the Luna segment is about the Moon and our desire to ‘reach for the stars’; both are by Dutch choreographer Wubkje Kuindersma. Design-wise, they look svelte and confident, and the music (Kate Whitley and responsible for all on the night) is symphonically supportive with the odd lieder-type interlude. The children’s chorus is an utterly charming highlight of both segments. Choreographically, it seemed confidently professional but ultimately somewhat bland, with much spinning and many split legs. Did it convey anything special about the Earth and the Moon? I’m not so sure. Taken as abstract work, it’s OK if one’s pulse was not raised.

The four middle sections were actually about female themes - phew! Seeta Patel created Learning To Dream Big, which is about how education can transform lives as we see five young school students grow to become doctors, teachers, activists, etc. What surprised was seeing this usually contemporary Bharatanatyam dance creator working with pointe shoes. I’m not sure if there was a lost opportunity there, but of all the dance on the night, Patel 100% delivered on the brief - you could absolutely see the inspiring point being made - and she deserves much praise for that.

Thais Suarez, from Cuba, made Unwavering about overcoming adversity. A two-hander for Beatrice Parma and Javier Rojas, it seemed to get musically waylaid by parts of Fauré’s ‘Requiem’ sung live on stage and introducing ‘strolling singer’ confusion to the action. There was passionate movement here, including an interesting pas de deux, and while it could feel obtuse about its point, we eventually see Parma emerge from her chrysalis and fly free.

The choreographic hit of the night was Empowerment by Arielle Smith, which is about women helping women. For eight female dancers, it easily delivered on showing sisterhood, and one could revel in the pacy mash-up of contemporary and ballet movement. Smith delivers fresh, dynamic richness to the stage and is on a roll. And again, seeing the Children’s choir in action was lovely if I could not hear the relevance to the brief. Neither did I understand what point was being made by the backcloth projections morphing from some stylised city scenes to abstract multicolour circular tracks. It wasn’t the only segment where things on stage didn’t seem aligned and clear. So, terrific to see Smith’s movement, if in a somewhat exasperating context.

There was more dramatic movement in Madrid-based Iraxte Ansa’s Overexposed, a take on female oppression. Here, Beatrice Parma (she was having a good night) tussled with eight unidentified men in white masks (design you could understand - huzzah), but eventually, she sees her detractor’s faces and becomes ever more powerful and conquering. Sadly, you can’t make out the words from the singers on stage, but there were shades of Crystal Pite’s sculptural approach to groups that looked useful.

Then we were on to the final Luna segment, mentioned already, and where, right at the end, the dancers from all the segments appeared with the choir. It’s rousing in part if by then I didn’t feel up for its celebration in a ballet that didn’t feel that coherent or a choreographic knockout. I so didn’t travel to Birmingham looking for disappointment, but I’m afraid that’s how I travelled home. The original inspiration for Luna was terrific, but ultimately, I’m just not convinced that using lots of creatives is better than using a few with greater focus.