Not Only Opera

I demand to be devastated: The Human Seasons/After the Rain/Flight Pattern at the ROH

The Human Seasons / After the Rain / Flight Pattern
The Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House
16 March 2017
Amphitheatre B35, £7.50
http://www.roh.org.uk/mixed-programmes/the-human-seasons-after-the-rain-flight-pattern

It's both advantage and disadvantage that, working at the ROH, I never see anything fresh. So it was with Flight Pattern, Crystal Pite's first work for The Royal Ballet. My expectations were high anyway: I vividly remember the feeling of all-out awe I felt at seeing her Polaris. That would be more than enough on its own, but A Picture of You Falling gave a hint of the secure narrative handling of Betroffenheit, a work of dance theatre like nothing I've seen before or since. Hearing her speak in staff briefings about Flight Pattern, hearing her ambition and sincerity and the compassion she brought to the difficult subject – the refugee crisis – she wanted the ballet to explore, stoked my anticipation further.

In the end Flight Pattern is pretty good. It didn't leave me shaken, it didn't tear my heart out, in fact it didn't even make me shed a tear – but that's probably ok. This is an attractive, thoughtful and well put-together work, and I should remember that. Nevertheless, I'll allow myself a few specific criticisms. There are three things that prevent Flight Pattern from reaching the incredibly high standards of Pite's best work. One is of momentum: for me the different sections don't quite flow into each other; the individual actions plucked out are not built on; the work seems always on the verge of saying something but doesn't quite come out with it – or does, in the final solo for Marcelino Sambé, but by this time Gorecki's very emphatically structured music has already released its emotional load. It seems odd for someone whose handling of a large ensemble can be so extraordinary. The second criticism is that the piece very rarely shows off the abilities of her dancers (the Shechter effect). And thirdly, I do feel that a work on such a subject at such a time to such a score really is obliged to tear my heart out, and that it didn't is a serious problem. Perhaps, though, there is no need to read the work as so explicitly programmatic; and hopefully either way it will have had a greater impact on people who didn't come with quite so much baggage.

I was dreading the rest of the programme but probably shouldn't have. I think After the Rain is overrated; I like the first movement but the second, a pas de deux which everyone goes on about the whole time, I think is posey, and I also really hate the tiny baby-girl pink leotard the woman has to wear. Nevertheless, Marianela Nuñez and Thiago Soares are truly wonderful, dancing with such lyricism and control and apparent simplicity that I felt very churlish for all my moaning about the ballet.

I also feel bad about hating The Human Seasons; I think David Dawson is a very interesting choreographer and I'd like to see more of his work. Maybe if Human Seasons didn't have such mind-shreddingly awful music it might work better. As it is, the ballet looks incredibly difficult in a frustrating rather than impressive way, and with no structure in the music to hang onto, nor any discernible relationship between the choreography and the seasons/human life structure Dawson has given himself, it ends up feeling like an endurance test. Still, there are one or two moments when Dawson gives his dancers space to shine, and shine they do.