Dance

BA Modern Ballet

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow

Mary Brennan

four stars

BY THE end of the evening, one thing was impressively clear: whatever the style, whatever the groove – be it classical ballet, contemporary dance or jazz-inflected tango – the BA Modern Ballet students on-stage could turn their hands (and feet) to it.

A merrily mixed programme opened with Esquisses, a full company showcase choreographed by Scottish Ballet’s artistic director, Christopher Hampson to music by Charles Valentin Alkan, played live by pianist Alan Costello and RCS String students. This was an elegantly disguised almanac of ballet technique where the pointe-work, solos (male and female) and pas-de-deux put years one, two and three through some very precise paces. There was a lovely degree of confident poise before tutus were discarded and limbs loosened up for a succession of sharp’n’gritty contemporary works by, among others, Diana Loosmore and Sophie Laplane.

In 2009, when the BA Modern Ballet course was in its first year, Canadian choreographer Helene Blackburn and her company, Cas Public, appeared in Nikki Milican’s New Territories season. We haven’t seen much of Blackburn’s work since but here, in a tremendous crossover initiative between RCS and Ballet Divertimento School, Montreal, was Hero’s Lullaby, created (in Canada) by Blackburn on this ad hoc group of young dancers and premiered by them in Glasgow. All of this choreographer’s signature snap, sizzle and strut was delivered with the right edge of urban attitude. Slick, sometimes laid-back, but never slack, the RCS and Divertimento students melded together and simply powered through demanding moves with a meticulous swagger.

As for the graduates, they variously demonstrated a fine sense of their present strengths and possible directions which, in Ewan Hambleton’s case, has extended, promisingly, into choreography. In all, a real celebration of what this course is all about.