London City Ballet: Resurgence review

Next, a new commission, from the in-demand choreographer Arielle Smith. Five Dances has a bit more fire in its belly, as six dancers, all wearing Emily Noble’s half-skirted costumes, offer responses to a John Adams score. What starts in a gentle abstraction of bird-like dips and swoops ramps up as the tempo quickens, with Arthur Wille’s hypnotically lithe solo as an apogee, before Ellie Young and Taylor bring us back down with a slo-mo duet showcasing rigorous control. The fifth of the segments is a joyous burst, the lights going down just as all six have jumped, so they disappear suspended in flight. There is not really a sense of anyone dipping too deeply into the emotional palette, though. 

An amuse-bouche MacMillan duet from Isadora Bless and Taylor precedes the evening’s longest piece, Marney’s own work, Eve. The luminous former Ballet Black star Cira Robinson is compelling as a tentatively trusting first woman, beguiled by Alvaro Madrigal’s Serpent, who seems to offer comfort in a cold and windswept world (Jennie Muskett’s score and some clever projections create a suitably ominous atmosphere). The Spanish dancer Madrigal erupts with menace as the snake’s true intent is revealed – leading Eve around the stage with the apple firmly clenched between her teeth. A flood of bodies in skin-coloured costumes emerge, the raw material with which Eve must fashion a new world. Lots, then, to admire – it all just needs a little less restraint and a slightly sharper bite.