A first look at the brilliant dancers about to shape the next chapter of ballet. The Next Generation Festival runs at the Royal Opera House until the 4th July – tickets here.
The Next Generation Festival, running at the Linbury Theatre in the Royal Opera House, is a celebration showcasing graduating students from the Royal Ballet School and a host of other dance schools from across the world. The evening I went, students from the Royal Ballet School danced alongside those from the School of American Ballet, performing a multitude of pieces from across the full classical-contemporary spectrum of ballet.
As is natural with any series of short pieces, everyone will have their own favourites according to taste. Each evening of the festival features different dances performed by different schools. What unifies every piece is – as one would expect from such prestigious institutions – the technical brilliance of the dancers. It’s tempting to talk about ‘talent’, and make no mistake, they are all very talented, but it goes further than that. This festival marks for these dancers the step from training into the professional world – it marks years of hard work and dedication. It’s a very moving thing to watch: young people who have given most of their lives to such a demanding artform and who are now ready to join companies around the world. All thirty Royal Ballet School dancers have received professional contracts – watching the festival is genuinely watching the next generation arriving.
The risk with any training in the arts is that as technical mastery is achieved, personality and individuality are pushed to the side. Here this was not the case. It felt as if every dancer was showcasing both their technique and who they are as artists. The festival in part is curated by the students and the breadth of interest is good to see. Whilst there are classical works (George Balanchine particularly – as is understandable with the School of American Ballet, his school), there is also clearly a taste for the new and the radical. It is what one hopes to see from the next generation: respect for tradition balanced with pushing the envelope. While it is not possible to say where ballet will go in the next few decades, watching the festival, one feels sure they know which dancers will be answering that question.
Perhaps more than any other artist, ballet dancers are mythologised. The artform is soaked in the culture of the sublime and in that we risk forgetting that dancers don’t just appear on our stages graceful and brilliant. Great dancers make it look easy but it’s not easy. It’s an extraordinarily difficult artform. And the Next Generation Festival doesn’t shy away from that. As Ian Mackay, artistic director of the Royal Ballet School, said before the performance: “It’s years of dedication”. So this festival is moving because it is beautiful and impressive – because the dancers do really make it look easy – but more importantly it’s moving because these young dancers have worked for years to do this and it’s our privilege that we might get to sit in their audiences.