L'Allegro, Il Penseroso Ed Il Moderato: The London Coliseum
THERE are some things you never want to end: a warm spring day, a perfect glass of wine, a kiss from a new lover – and Mark Morris’s delicious masterpiece L’Allegro, Il Penseroso Ed Il Moderato.
Made in 1988 it was a mission statement from the man who brought real bodies to the dance stage.
No sylph himself, Morris hired people who wanted to dance regardless of size, shape and weight.
It is a philosophy that has informed his work ever since. Nourished by Handel’s pastoral ode and set to the poetry of Milton while taking inspiration from neo-Greek classicism, this is a fully fledged masterpiece of lyrical organic ballet.
The barefoot dancers flit and fly across the stage as if running through a sunlit meadow. Under the brilliant baton of Jane Glover the ENO orchestra excels in the company of the London Chamber Choir and a quartet of soloists, providing the heat and light that nourishes Morris’s vision.
Of all contemporary choreographers Morris is the most alert to the literal union of music and movement, every single note finds gestural expression. While this seemingly organic movement – often childlike, always exuberant – may appear uncontrolled in an Isadora Duncan-like way, nothing could be further from the truth.
Certainly anti-academic, there is nonetheless a muscular choreographic structure concealed beneath the flesh of humanity and unalloyed joy. Pastoral/ classical allusions abound but there is no need to “read” the work, it seeps straight into the heart like oxygenated blood.
Against a simple but effective set consisting of a series of frames that change colour and rise and fall at intervals, it is devoted to the ensemble or groups of pairs, with few solos.
“These delights if thou canst give/Mirth, with thee we mean to live,” runs the final chorus. I couldn’t have put it better. See it and go home happy.
VERDICT 5/5
Mark Morris Dance Group Spring Dance At The London Coliseum, 0871 911 0200, until tomorrow
