Review: YOUTH COMPANY OF THE FINNISH NATIONAL BALLET, Royal Ballet And Opera

It's so refreshing to get a new proposition, and that was the case with The Youth Company of the Finnish National Ballet at the Next Generation Festival at the Royal Ballet and Opera's Linbury Theatre.

The festival is an opportunity to “experience performances by nine of the most exciting junior companies and dance schools from the UK, across Europe and around the world” and “witness the diversity and range of global performing talent” - and it's absolutely succeeding thus far.

The Youth Company of the Finnish National Ballet presented a triple bill with two very interesting works. The middle piece, Clique by Reija Wäre didn't work for me, which is a shame as Wäre is a Finnish dance maker, so I'd hoped for a geographic, cultural insight. The piece was largely made up of what felt like random virtuosity by the men, with the women doing little to nothing. At the end I was none the wiser.

Opening the bill was Julian Nicosia’s Fragments of Time; a modern ballet piece to a range of music including Bach. Nicosia danced with Lyon Opera Ballet and Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company, so his choreographic style is recognisable in relation to William Forsythe's oeuvre. The work isn't groundbreaking, but equally it feels fresh and like it has its own identity within the sea of similar pieces.

Most important is what it gives the twelve dancers. They are all in the moment, no questions asked. Nicosia’s language allows them to use their classical technique, yet go above and beyond what they know. Risk, play, the whole experience felt very American in execution. There was no second guessing or inhibition. And this approach is very welcome in London, where (classical) dance can all too often feel safe and premeditated.

Closing the programme was Marco Goecke’s Blushing. First made in 2003 for the Stuttgart Ballet, the work doesn't communicate as 22 years old, rather 22 seconds.

It's the first Goecke piece I've seen live, and I'm sold. With work so unpredictable and avant-garde, description becomes even more tricky than usual. Visually it's a black box and the dancers, via Goecke, are (physically) discussing what happens inside a person when they go red. 

I relate this to embarrassment or discomfort, and Goecke is very successful here. His choreography suggests a desire to disappear, either further inside the body or out of it all together. Small, frustrated gesture aims to burrow inside - throwaway, flippant arm movements communicate a need to expel from bodily constraints.

The dancers are totally consumed by the task in front of them. There's no obvious sense of performance, and often they face away from the auditorium all together. At points Goecke's choreography suggests nothing but physical challenge. Is this still dance? To me yes - as you get to witness an artist at their most exposed, wrestling with intention and personal capability. It’s an arresting watch.

I enjoyed the evening a lot, and appreciate the Youth Company of the Finnish National Ballet are aiming to carve out their own identity rather than just being another carbon copy of what already exists.

The dancers are something else, and leave a mark post performance. I felt like I was in the presence of the next, very talented, individual generation of artists, and if The Finnish National Opera and Ballet is lucky, these dancers won't leave Helsinki when they leave the Youth Company!

The Next Generation Festival continues at the Royal Ballet and Opera Linbury Theatre until 29 June