The Mariinsky Ballet is best known for the big-scale classics but this visit to London may be remembered for a small ballet by Jerome Robbins.
On the face of it, this makes no sense. Robbins was a New Yorker, he choreographed the quintessentially American film West Side Story, and his ballets were often short and plotless.
Set to Chopin's Nocturnes, In the Night is an ensemble piece for six dancers. There are no sets and unremarkable costumes. And there's no story, just three couples who look and behave like people - or at least lovely-looking ballet people - evoking the pleasure and pain of grown-up love.
How is this, you might ask, relevant to the Mariinsky, who do three-hour dance-dramas based on myths and aristocrats?
Like a sleeping beauty, Robbins arouses the dancers from a slumber. His steps are hard enough to maintain interest but sensuous enough to give warmth and curve. The dancers infuse his moves with languor and longing, and then phrase his gestures with laughter. It's rare for them to move with such poignant ease, or to look so gorgeous.
Book-ending the Robbins was Scotch Symphony and Ballet Imperial by George Balanchine, the Mariinsky trained choreographer who fled Russia after the Revolution and re-made ballet in New York. The Mariinsky perform his ballets as if he were their own, which of course he is. However, while dazzlingly danced, even the genius Balanchine had to take second place to Robbins.
Tonight only. The Mariinsky
season runs until August 13 (020 7304 4000, roh.org.uk)
Mariinsky Ballet: Balanchine & Robbins (Scotch Symphony/In The Night/Ballet Imperial)
Royal Opera House
Floral Street, WC2E 9DD
