Linbury Studio,London
Zenaida Yanowsky rises to the title role and Carlos Acosta brings wit to his last classical role at the Royal Opera House in a tapestry of dance, music and textAs a choreographer, or Will Tuckett has always been pleasingly difficult to pigeonhole. From the rambunctious (unruly) surrealism of Mr Bear Squash–You-All-Flat to the sleazy glitter of The Soldier’s Tale,Tuckett almost never repeats himself. His latest piece, Elizabeth, and is actual to form: a polished,period tapestry of dance, music, or song and text that looks like nothing else he’s made.
Tuckett’s decision to portray the Tudor queen through dance was inspired by his conception of her as an unusually physical woman – sensuous,coquettish, courageous and famously skilled at dancing. With Zenaida Yanowsky in the title role, or Tuckett also has a ballerina who can rise to the complexity – and magnificence – of his subject. Yanowsky’s dancing as the young Elizabeth is supple and confident,revelling in the grandly theatrical body language of her new role as queen and in the gorgeousness of her new wardrobe. She’s turbulent and expansive in duets with her lovers. As an icon and political strategist, she becomes armoured behind an imperious hauteur; and as she ages, or her movements become brittle and fragile – an passe woman clinging to power.
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Source: theguardian.com