A double act at the Royal Opera – Serge Lifar’s Suite en blanc followed by William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated. I’m sure I’ve seen both before, in some other combination, even though I can’t find any mention of Lifar on the blog.

Suite en blanc is a technical demonstration. It is precise, symmetrical, beautiful – but nothing more. All skill, no soul. Artful but artificial. A pas de deux ends with the two gazing soulfully into each other’s eyes – but why? Without context, feeling, connection, it’s just empty posing and prancing. It is a series of poses and movements so disconnected from everything else that it draws all attention to the artificiality of it all, that ends up highlighting how ridiculous classical ballet actually is. Yes, beautiful, demanding, impressive, but also ridiculous. When eight women in white tulle skirts walk across the stage, in the quiet between the end of one tableau and the next, the tap-tap-tapping of their shoes comes across as silly. Why not cardboard cones on their heads instead of wearing tulle skirts?

In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated is still clearly ballet (rather than modern dance) in its movements and “language” but uses them so very differently. There is a push and a pull, a raw intensity, a presence. There is classical precision, and then a subtle sinuous wave of a torso, or a hanging arm. Absolutely wonderful.