Empire Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, 6 May 2009

Scottish Ballet's Carmen (photo - Andrew Ross)

CARMEN – well, we all know the story, and the music. Headstrong tobacco girl flirts with soldier, ditches him for glamorous bullfighter, and it all ends in tears, and worse. So what’s new in Scottish Ballet’s take?

A lot. Starting with the Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin’s re-orchestration of Bizet’s so-well-known-it’s-hackneyed score, which concentrates on strings and percussion to give it a sharp freshness, much more in tune with 21st century sensibilities.

Richard Alston distilled the essence of the story into a taut, coherent, gripping dance work, with spectacle, humour, pathos and sensuality by turns. An old hand, he had made plenty of exhilarating sequences for the corps which often had the freedom and exhilaration of Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story, and of course there were some heartbreakingly lovely duets and trios for the principals.

Sophie Martin as Carmen had much in common with her fellow countrywoman Sylvie Guillem, demonstrating an enviable precision, strength and musicality, with a graceful, unhurried perfection of movement which runs all the way to the very tips of her elegant fingers and toes. She was beautifully partnered by the assured, passionate dancing of Daniel Davidson as Don Jose and the imposing presence of William Smith as Escamillo.

Vassilissa Levtonova was also very impressive as the Gypsy, but some of the other dancers were, on the first night, struggling a little with the flat stage at the Empire after a run of several days on the rake at His Majesty’s in Aberdeen – one of the many hazards that beset a touring dancer. Nonetheless they threw themselves into the dance wholeheartedly and no doubt later performances were as synchronised as the choreographer intended.

Peter Mumford’s set and lighting design was faultless, economical and utterly beautiful; if there is any justice it should be laden with awards. It was the perfect backdrop for the dance, and Antony McDonald had surpassed himself with the costumes. I cannot have been the only woman in the audience left longing to sashay home in a little high necked lace bolero and cascading, rustling, ruffled skirt.

The second work, Ashley Page’s Cheating, Lying, Stealing (1998), continued the theme of infidelity and betrayal but in a mid-West setting of roadside diners and motels with an uncompromisingly hard modern soundtrack by Michael Gordon and David Lang. The individual duets and trios provided many opportunities to admire the dancing skills of the company members, including Martin, now ably partnered by Adam Blyde, Claire Robertson and Erik Cavallari, and the ever-watchable Paul Liburd.

The design, even with the burning sofa, probably won’t rank among McDonald’s career best, apart from the bleached blonde wigs, purple jackets and mustard shorts for Levtonova, Luciana Ravizzi, and Kara McLaughlin. Very memorable, very Vogue.

Ashley Page’s choreography had a faint and very pleasing hint at times of the style of William Forsythe (whose workwithinwork from the same year is, entirely coincidentally, featured in Scottish Ballet’s autumn tour). But overall the blocking of the group work felt disconnected and the end result was that – strangely for a work about passion – it felt curiously disengaged.

© Jennie Macfie, 2009

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• Scottish Ballet
• Jennie Macfie