Review: So Are We, León and Lightfoot – a five-star double bill from The Royal Ballet
Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel flavours the spirit of contemporary ballet in Sol León and Paul Lightfoot’s Shoot the Moon and Salle de Danse for The Royal Ballet.
| Title | So Are We – Shhot the Moon | Salle de Danse |
| Company | The Royal Ballet |
| Venue | The Royal Opera House |
| Date | 11 June 2026 |
| Reviewer | Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel |
So Are We: León and Lightfoot opened on the main stage on Thursday, 11 June. Sol León and Paul Lightfoot are new voices in the repertoire of The Royal Ballet, but their impact in the last two decades within the Netherlands is second to their mentors: the late Hans Van Manen, a titan of contemporary ballet, and Czech choreographer Jiří Kylián, whose hybridity of ballet and modern dance created a work that settled across Dutch companies like NDT and Het Nationale Ballet. Like latecomers to a fashionable party, The Royal Ballet’s eagerness to stage an entire evening of the León and Lightfoot partnership has come about. And this generation of the company laps up every sinuous movement that León and Lightfoot have to offer.
Shoot the Moon (2006) feels like an old friend – it’s been a long time since I first watched this ballet, created for Netherlands Dans Theater. The cast is varied – five dancers, three wall pushers and two camera operators (the latter two groups we don’t see, and here lies the magic of theatre). The work explores a series of relationships and empty spaces within three rooms. At times, we catch a glimpse through an open door or a window.
Anna Rose O’Sullivan opens the ballet, almost unrecognisable in her sombre presence, followed by an enigmatic Vadim Muntagirov. Their relationship is terse and upended – they are unsettled, never looking at each other, yet they shift through the peaks and troughs of the choreography. The recurring developpés and swooshes to high extensions dominate the choreographic vocabulary. Lauren Cuthbertson and Matthew Ball’s relationship is equally jarring – their movements are more anxious and frustrated as they move above and beyond Philip Glass’ Concerto No.1. Ball melts into the movement, offering authentic moments of tussling with the choreography.
The real highlight of Shoot the Moon is Lukas B. Brændsrod, who was made for this ballet. Tall, powerful, and superbly cast, Brændsrod delivers a stellar performance. His physical understanding of the weightedness of the descents and ascents of León and Lightfoot’s contemporary ballet exceeds that of any of the principal dancers.
Shoot the Moon sets the bar for the choreographic identity of León and Lightfoot: they are the legacy of the Dutch contemporary ballet scene that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. Live video moments seem dated, but back in 2006 they were hip as in Van Manen’s Live (1979) and William Forsythe‘s Kammer Kammer (2000). Live camera work, moving walls, and vocabulary rooted in the duality of modern dance and ballet – the familiarity is comforting, not groundbreaking, but it’s a historical document that adds much breadth to the company’s repertoire.
The new commission, Salle de Danse, is a showcase ballet that uses the entire company through twenty sections of choreography. From a Prelude to a Postlude, via an Interlude, the choreography shifts through chunks of creativity around every section of the ballet class. León and Lightfoot creatively explore an hour-long conversation with the conventions of ballet, adding meanderings and ‘rabbit holes’ of sorts. ‘Tendus Glissés Frappés’ is one of those sections that builds upon concepts that travelled from the floor to the entire body – Yu Hang, Aurora Chinchilla, Rebecca Myles Stewart, and Olivia Findlay were bold in their performance. The ‘Ronds de Jambe’ commenced from the basic component of rounding the leg on the ground – the material evolved into a short, punchy solo delivered in his usual stellar fashion by Joseph Sissens.
Across the season, it is clear that Sissens has evolved into a superb exponent of contemporary ballet repertoire. He moves authoritatively and authentically, bringing his whole self. And that can be said of the entire company as they tackled the familiar and unfamiliar combinations of steps.
In ‘Ports de Bras’, Tristan-Ian Mass, Emile Gooding, Liam Foskett, Blake Smith and Braden Galluci deliver a powerful use of the upper body that matches the foundations of the lower limbs. These dancers epitomise the future of the company as worthy contenders in the lineage of contemporary ballet, more so than I have ever considered in the past twenty-five years. In ‘Ensemble’, the unity of the company left powerful traces as the dancers’ arms flicked, struck or slid across their bodies.
I was less convinced by the book-end roles of Francesca Hayward and Marcelino Sambé in the Prelude and Postlude; Hayward’s role did not deliver much punch (albeit the red-carpet-turned-garment was striking). Sambé’s performance was strong, but the movement vocabulary was bizarre within the context of the work. With its stylised lighting and costumes, largely stark in black and white, Salle de Danse was a long show-stopper, but it encapsulated the company, with its ranks revelling in its peak. The ballet was a great way to finish the season and complement the range of repertoire performed this season.
It was a bold and brave choice to schedule León and Lightfoot. Both ballets kept the audience on the edge of their seats. Chapeau to a fine evening!
