Ballet Icons Gala 20th Anniversary Review at the London Coliseum
- London Theatre Doc
- 10 hours ago
- 2 min read
★★★★★
A little known fact about me is that during my Masters degree I wrote my thesis on injuries in ballet dancers. Immersing myself in the biomechanics, resilience and extreme physical demands of the art form sparked something unexpected. Beyond the science, I fell in love with ballet. Ever since, I have watched with both analytical curiosity and deep admiration.
The Ballet Icons Gala, celebrating its twentieth anniversary, felt like the apex of that journey.
Bringing together twenty eight dancers from many of the world’s most revered companies, including The Royal Ballet, Berlin State Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Teatro alla Scala Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, the evening was a rare concentration of global excellence. The performances were underscored by the English National Ballet Philharmonic Orchestra, whose playing added grandeur and emotional depth throughout.
The programme balanced heritage and innovation with confidence. Excerpts from Swan Lake, Le Corsaire and Don Quixote honoured the classical canon, reminding us why these works endure. Maia Makhateli and Young Gyu Choi, both principals of Dutch National Ballet, delivered an elegant yet commanding pas de deux from Raymonda. Petipa’s intricate choreography, set to Glazunov’s sweeping score, was performed with crystalline precision and authority. The illusion of effortlessness, ballet’s greatest deception, was executed to perfection.
Yet it is contemporary ballet that most electrifies me, where the form feels urgent and alive.
The UK premiere of Asylum, performed by Edward Watson MBE, was utterly arresting. Antonia Franceschi’s choreography was angular, visceral and almost feral in intensity. What appeared wild was in fact forensic control, hyperextended lines and deliberate instability executed with unnerving calm.
Two world premieres, created especially for the Gala, reinforced the evening’s creative vitality. Uhuru, choreographed by Mthuthuzeli November and danced by Northern Ballet principal Sarah Chun, felt elemental. Its percussive phrasing and atmospheric staging evoked something ancestral yet contemporaryPostscript, danced and choreographed by the Pett Clausen Knight Dance Company, offered a powerful meditation on separation and loss. Raw, intimate and emotionally exacting, it demonstrated ballet’s capacity to communicate grief without a single word.
Sarah Chun in Uhuru credit Jack Devant, James Pett and Travis Clausen-Knight in Postscript credit Malcolm Levinkind, Edward Watson in Asylum credit Jack Devant
As a critic and self styled professional audience member, I ask to be moved and to be told a story with conviction. The Ballet Icons Gala delivered fourteen distinct narratives, performed by artists operating at the very height of their craft, several unveiling new work to the world.
On its twentieth anniversary, Ballet Icons did more than celebrate longevity. It affirmed ballet as a living, evolving language, sustained by technical mastery and fearless creation. An extraordinary evening and one of the defining highlights of the dance calendar.