Royal Opera House are doing really marvellous things in keeping culture going whilst breaking down cultural barriers. As part of their live and streaming performances, the Royal Ballet took to the stage. The company are nothing if not generous - Don Quixote, Woolf Works, Medusa, Romeo and Juliet, Elite Syncopations, a dream sequence from Carousel, La Fille Ma Garde; they just keep giving.
Convention breaking is encouraged as both audience and performers are thrilled to be back on stage or at a live performance - we are encouraged to clap along to La Fille Ma Garde, and scream our heads off and applaud wildly at the end. Similarly, the delighted presenter at the Barbican encouraged people in the audience to talk to her and even 'whoop!' for the extremely talented Kanneh-Mason siblings. And whilst there is a time for silence and just enjoying listening or watching, I heartily applaud this coming together of live and global streaming audience; the encouragement of enjoyment and appreciation of arts and culture and stripping back of a lot of the perceived stuffiness of going to Opera or Ballet; the open expressions of gratitude for being able to participate in a cultural event together. Maybe COVID is egalitarian in ways we haven't dreamed of...
Respect also to the Royal Ballet for keeping orchestra and dancers safe, especially in company scenes where most dancers are on stage - only ten couples can touch and dance together; everyone else partners at a distance, which adds to the socially distanced scrum of finding a partner sequence at the end. Scott Joplin rag time, luridly eye-popping latex costumes and some very funny scenes as dancers and couples strut their syncopated best.
The couple pictured above deserve special commendations - for demonstrating the hazards of being differing heights in a partnered dance, where you can literally lose your head, clamber over your partner, kick your hat or be held in some unfortunate places, almost like a trussed turkey ready for the oven. Sweetly they carry on - no-one loses an eye, and they are having fun really! I hadn't seen Elite Syncopations before - such jazz hands fun! and admirably, the dancers remain in character even exiting the stage or in taking bows...
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