Review: Ondine

West Yorkshire Playhouse

ORIGINALLY created as a vehicle for prima ballerina Margot Fonteyn, this amphibious fantasy has been radically altered since its Royal Ballet premiere in 1958.

This week, the reconfigured Ondine from Northern Ballet received its UK debut, and it was not, I’d venture to say, what most audiences would have expected.

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Mooted as a fusion of contemporary dance and classical ballet, what this reviewer anticipated was an emphasis on the latter with little more than a suggestion of modern movement.

Not a bit of it. What artistic director David Nixon has created is a balanced dovetail of styles which is a departure from the classical without severing all ties. In the first act we see Ondine, a sea sprite played by Martha Leebolt, meet a handsome knight, Brand, played by Tobias Batley. They fall in love and perform a lengthy pas de deux which can only be described as copulative – lots of rolling and writhing but nothing that diminishes their grace. Purists may disagree, however.

The final act is far more classical and, although it delivers some amazing moments (the gazelle-like Kevin Poueng is particularly impressive) it seems safe by comparison. The staging is minimal yet stylish, while the score is a jagged piece of early 20th-century orchestration from Hans Werner Henze which can’t be ignored, but doesn’t distract.