Dawson / Lightfoot – León / Ekman
A ballet event staged at Rome's Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Dawson / Lightfoot – León / Ekman is a triple bill featuring a trio of balletic pieces with music drawn from Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler and Franz Schubert. The featured short ballets are Cacti, choreographed by Alexander Ekman, Subject to Change, a dance work by Paul Lightfoot and Sol León plus Four Last Songs, the final piece by David Dawson. With such illustrious composers, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma's orchestra and ballet corps, this run of performances is sure to delight.
Cacti focuses on contemporary dance trends. With choreography by the Swedish dancer Alexander Ekman, a man who is well-versed in this form of dance, the work features 16 dancers who are initially arranged seated on human-sized Scrabble tiles. First presented in 2010, Cacti was commissioned for the Nederlands Dans Theater 2 and was offered by the Dutch Queen to the Oslo Opera during a royal visit to the Norwegian capital. Music by Mahler, Beethoven and Haydn all appear in this ballet including the much-loved second movement from Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 59. In addition, an adapted section of Schubert's 14th string quartet, known as Death and the Maiden, appears in Cacti. It was rearranged by Andy Stein and the music played its part in this superb ballet being nominated for the Swan Award in 2010.
The next section of the triple bill is Paul Lightfoot and Sol León's Subject to Change. It is also about dance in its own way, ballet which borrows its name from the corner of every schedule and cast sheet its choreographers encountered during their time at the Nederlands Dans Theater. Its premiere took place in March 2003, a few years after the pair had become parents to their daughter, Saura. Following the brain haemorrhage of a close friend who was caring for Saura – an event which occurred during the ballet's development – the choreography is consequently powerful and emotive. It also features music from Schubert's Death and the Maiden String Quartet No. 14, first written in 1824, this time an 1894 arrangement made by Gustav Mahler.
David Dawson's remarkable Four Last Songs is the final ballet performance on the programme. Its choreography is set to a song cycle of the same name by the German composer, Richard Strauss, which was first performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 22 May 1950 some months following his death. Several other ballets were produced in the 1970s and 1980s on Four Last Songs but Dawson's version is more recent. Its debut took place at London's Sadler's Wells Theatre on 21 September 2023. Dawson's poetic interpretation sees a dozen dancers unite to express Strauss' songs with serene, almost eternal feelings that some interpret as the composer's poignant farewell towards the end of his life.
With a trio of wonderfully emotive ballets and exceptional music, Dawson / Lightfoot – León / Ekman at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma will generate much interest among dance fans.