Northern Ballet, Three Short Ballets

Last Updated on September 30, 2026

Northern Ballet Revives Two Works Alongside a Brand New Piece

3.0 out of 5.0 stars

The programme that opened Northern Ballet’s short residency at the Linbury Theatre is not quite the programme that will be shown in subsequent performances. This is because Northern Ballet and The Royal Ballet used the first night as an opportunity to to pay homage to philanthropist Aud Jebsen, without whose generosity ballet and other art forms in the UK with look much leaner. As a special gift to Aud Jebsen, who was present at the performance, three pas de deux were added to the Three Short Ballets that make up the original programme.

All three duets brought together dancers from The Royal Ballet and Northern Ballet. The Royal’s Anna Rose O’Sullivan reprised her role in Christopher Wheeldon’s An American in Paris, partnered by Northern Ballet’s Harris Beattie; Northern’s Saeka Shirai performed the Act II pas de deux from Ashton’s Cinderella with the Royal’s Reece Clarke; and Ryoichi Hirano, a Royal Ballet principal, who has guested with Northern Ballet, danced a duet from The Great Gatsby with Sarah Chun.

All three pas de deux were gloriously danced and powerfully evoked their respective settings: Wheeldon’s nod to Broadway, Ashton’s pure classicism, David Nixon’s sensual evocation of rekindled love among the beautiful people of jazz age America.

Those were the bonuses that greately elevated the evening. As for the basic programme, it presented a brand new commission alongisde two revivals with wildly varying styles that demanded great versatility from the dancers. Northern Ballet specialises in narrative ballets, so the dancers felt truly at home in the final piece of the evening: a revival of the 2024 Fools, by the South African choreographer Mthuthuzeli November.

Fools transposes the basic Romeo and Juliet story to a South African township, where the ‘star cross’d lovers’, Harris Beattie and Sarah Chun, belong to the warring tribes of Thembu and Hlubi. It has bags of atmosphere, much shouting and stomping, and disturbing amounts of violence – if you think Tybalt was vile, you want to see this brute of Chun’s brother, danced with ferocious gusto by Antoni Cañellas Artigues.

The problem with Fools is that it doesn’t really have a plot. The youngsters love each other, the tribes oppose them, somebody will die. The unnamed Juliet character is pregnant and full of foreboding, but is persuaded into lengthy loving pas de deux by the optimistic, ever-playful Romeo character. At first, as the ensemble engage in vibrant dances, it’s unclear who belongs to each tribe, which is confusing. Nevertheless, the rousing orgy of violence marking the ballet’s culmination, where the young man is graphically stabbed by the brother, is deeply theatrical and never fails to grip the audience.

The first piece in the programme couldn’t have been more different. A brand new commission from Tiler Peck, principal dancer and newly appointed Choreographic Associate at New York City Ballet, it’s set to Liszt’s Grandes Études de Paganini, from which it draws its title.

Grandes Études is Tiler Peck’s second work for Northern Ballet, following her 2023 Intimate Passages. Whereas that traced a simple narrative, centred on a young man engaged in an ever-frustrated search for love, Grandes Études is a 30 minutes plotless neo-classical ballet, extremely pleasing on the eye, with Carly Marsh’s soft pastel coloured costumes flattering the dancers and flowing with their steps. There’s humour, partner swapping, constantly varying formations – nothing really new in terms of choreography, but all accomplished and harmonious, and strongly driven by the live playing of concert pianist Rose McLachlan.

Northern Ballet is not new to the work of Hans van Manen, the grand old master of Dutch ballet, who died last December aged 93. His 5 Tangos, though, is exraordinarily demanding: the product of his fascination with the music of the revolutionary tango composer Astor Piazzolla, its choreography is a skilful combination of classical ballet and the passion of tango.

Seven couples went through the steps with dutiful concentration, but they came across as wooden and expressionless. They need to bring some true passion and sensuality into their dancing. On the night, the one moment that made me sit up and pay attention was a brief solo by The Royal Ballet’s César Corrales, he thrillingly able to convey the smouldering sensuality of the tango.

Northern Ballet, Three Short Ballets is at the Linbury 29 September – 2 October at 7.30pm. Thurs matinee at 2 pm
Dur.: 2 hours 20 mins inc two intervals. Tickets: £6-66

Linbury at RBO
Bow Street
London WC2E 9DD

For further dance suggestions see our London Dance Previews to Decemver 2026