Visit to LONDON CITY BALLET

VISIT TO LONDON CITY BALLET

19 June 2025

London City Ballet have a new studio in a complex created out of an old school in Islington. They are now entering their second season of the reborn company and of the 15 dancers. About half have returned from the inaugural UK and international tour.

As always we were given a warm welcome (to match the weather) by Christopher Marney, Artistic Director, who outlined the new season which would tour to 20 venues with 50 performances in UK and Europe. They were about 5 weeks into rehearsals.

The second half of class was followed by a short break and then a surprise. We were joined by Deborah Wingert from the Balanchine Trust who was staging Haieff Divertimento. This was an early Balanchine work from 1947 for Ballet Society, a precursor of New York City Ballet, to music by Alexei Haieff. This rare piece was thought lost but has been reconstructed although never performed outside the US. It is classical, lasting about 15 minutes with some blues/jazz within the 5 sections.

Deborah said that some of the movement was later developed by Balanchine in more well known ballets. She was aiming for authentic performance but there were always “options” to keep things alive for today.

There are a lead couple, supported by 4 other couples. Our lead couple in rehearsal were Constance Devernay-Laurence (ex Scottish Ballet) with Joseph Taylor (guesting from Northern Ballet).

Christopher Marney said it was a privilege for LCB to be able to present Balanchine and it also felt a privilege for LBC members to be the first UK audience to see the work in its final preparations, staged by someone with direct links to the choreographer and his style.

The 2025 tour of Momentum also includes works by Alexei Ratmansky and Liam Scarlett. The London dates are Sadlers Wells 13-14 September and Linbury Theatre 19-22 November (slightly different programme).