The London City Ballet’s third season premiered at Sadle’rs Wells, the company’s honorary home. The opening piece by international choreographer John Neumeier, was entitled Ghost Light: ‘a glimpse at the spirits of those artists who once inhabited our stages after the curtain falls and the theatre goes dark…’
The audience was met with a stark stage, bare walls, sterile radiators and a nondescript back door.
A solitary chair was situated downstage right, illuminated by an exposed standing lamp. Famed guest artist
Alina Cojocaru enters in Swan Lake attire. She is caught in a dream-like state, searching for her prince to rescue her.
A male quartet performs solo motifs which build in dynamic – punctuating the air with linear, repetitive and arrested movements. They are trying to connect with and embody the choreography they may have danced on and off stage when they were amongst the living.
Cojocaru and partner Joseph Taylor performed a tender, precise and poignant pas de deux, which was as equally beautiful and impactful as the same-sex duet danced by Noah Cosgriff and Siméon Sorange-Félicité. Both duets made me lean into the world created by Neumeier with wonder and empathy. A series of costumed characters drifted onto the stage; each in their own world, trying to rediscover their old identities. Vignettes incorporating duets, trios and ensemble pieces populated the stage and were reminiscent of productions the dancers would have rehearsed and performed when alive.
Another standout pas de deux performed by the powerful Nicolas Gläsmann and the striking Francesca Velicu was connective, dynamic, passionate and visceral.
Ghost Light’s vocabulary explored the vulnerability of touch, recurring dreams, the tracing of space, finding place, getting unstuck from an endless loop whilst pushing to connect with past colleagues, friends and lovers. The dancers bumping into objects and brought into focus the stark reality that time is transitory and the characters on stage live on in the memories of others: they can only appear in the shadows – to perhaps perceive or experience the aliveness of dancing once more.
Shout-out to Arthur Willie, whose strikingly tense and penetrating performance deserves recognition.
Although the concept behind Ghost Light is not without merit, the music pieces by Schubert made me detach at times from the piece. I felt the score was intended to evoke nostalgia, to stir memories, but it became increasingly staid, unevocative and made me want to switch off from the piece.
After the interval, I soared high on Glen Tetley’s Firebird. London City Ballet are celebrating the centenary year of renowned American choreographer Tetley. What a fitting tribute then to programme this exciting piece. Firebird mixes ballet with modern dance and is a retelling of the fairytale with a fresh, anti-patriarchal angle.
The piece starts with a family portrait consisting of five members, sitting as though they were in an Edgar Allan Poe scene. Behind them a watercolour image of trees projected on to a Cyc. A young, downtrodden woman in the portrait, (played by flawless Ellie Young), captures the inner spirit of a Firebird. The young woman is manipulated and dominated by her father, the priest, and the other women in the portrait. They berate her, and their dogmatic approach makes sure she is following a strict societal path laid out for all women.
The young woman manages to escape her nest, or stifling home, and true to fashion, falls in love. The pas de deux are sublime, with precarious balances, cascading lifts, bodies pouring into one another, depicting their protagonists’ strong overwhelming bond. Taylor demonstrates his impeccable partnering skills yet again with his exquisite partner, Young. She is flawless, magnetic and captivating. Her performance embodies grace, poise, technical prowess and, most importantly, authentic storytelling.
The dancers were all exuberant, thrilling and cohesive as they echoed the emotions of the Firebird. The world created by Tetley is transformed from a dark and sinister one to blossoming love as a young woman goes through her rites of passage.
John MacFarlane’s beautiful costuming and scenic design use colour and texture to not only complement the natural world but the dancers’ bodies and the movement they deliver.
The London City Ballet showcases talented dancers who engage, excite and enthral this reviewer.
NEED TO KNOW: London City Ballet’s Firebird was at Sadler’s Wells from 22 – 24 Oct 2026. Find out more.
