Twinkle

Choreography: Jessica Lang
Music: Johannes Brahms, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Creative Associate: Kanji Segawa

Costume Designer: Jillian Lewis

Lighting Designer: Zeynep Kepekli

 

 

Length: 20 minutes

Number of Dancers: 10

 

Commissioned by The Royal Ballet, Artistic Director Kevin O'Hare.

Cast: Fumi Kaneko, William Bracewell, Meaghan Hinkis, Annette Buvoli, Sae Maeda, Giacomo Riverro, Viola Pantuso, Harris Bell, Daichi Ikarashi, Harrison Lee, Sumina Sasaki 

"Lang responds with unabashed delight to these simple-seeming melodies, flooding the stage with movement, dancers flitting in and out of ensembles and partnerships with Robbins-like wit (and quoting saucily from Frederick Ashton’s Les Patineurs). For Lang, “The dancer is the fundamental inspiration” and Twinkle’s muse is unquestionably Fumi Kaneko whose gleeful jump and quicksilver phrasing are a perfect expression of the score."

- Louise Levene, The Financial Times, February 16, 2024

link to reivew

 

"...there are many happy moments during “Twinkle”: travelling and rhythmic dance moments (some of them casually and pleasantly same-sex)... Lang gives highly individualised and often challenging solos to all her cast of ten....highly affable, believes in its dancers, on the whole rewardingly."

- Alastair Maculay, Slipped Disc, February 16, 2024

 

"frolics along engagingly"

- Mark Monahan, The Telegraph, February 16, 2024

 

"had beguiling wit and charm...  felt confidently crafted throughout"

- Rupert Christiansen, The Spectator Magazine, February 24, 2024

 

"Lang’s easy-on-the-eye, light and joyful Twinkle, is quite enchanting. The designs immediately drew murmurs of approval: a star hanging in deep blue-black night sky of wispy clouds and comet trails, and on a small black raised platform, the excellent Kate Shipway on solo piano. In her introductory video, Lang talks about how she likes to use the dancers in front of her and what they bring to a piece. In Twinkle, she does just that. Classical through and through, it shows them off to their best. ...Lang’s dance is a treat. It’s pretty, at times witty, at times even a little bit cutesy, but it’s a delight: one of those lovely, charming, evening-closing pieces where you can just sit back, let it wash over you, and enjoy. Each dance matches its variation to perfection. Bracewell’s fellow lead, Fumi Kaneko sparkled too, feather-light in her playful variations, and their pas de deux is a dream. But as the dancers come and go in different combinations, Twinkle is a work where everyone feels like a soloist, everyone gets their chance to shine, to be one of those stars in the night sky. And they do. Twinkle makes for a fine uplifting end to a fine evening."

- David Mead, Seeing Dance, February 18, 2024

link to review

 

"Joy is what I feel at the end of Jessica Lang’s Twinkle. It cheers me up. Light, breezy, with witty nods to many other works, it’s a tongue-in-cheek pastiche of classical ballet—do I briefly see a couple from Frederick Ashton’s Les Patineurs? Is that a nod to Balanchine? References are from everywhere: three women dance and I see the three graces. In Jillian Lewis’s sugary pastel colours against Lang’s own set design concept of streaked sky with giant gold Christmas bauble or a bright star, Twinkle brings child-like joy, there’s no other word for it, even if I’m repeating myself. The ten dancers look to be having fun. Principals Fumi Kaneko and William Bracewell as lead couple is quality casting.

Lang has been choreographing for twenty-five years and this is her first invitation from the Royal Ballet. Long overdue, but worth the wait—who hasn't she worked with, dance and opera companies both? A wealth of experience, now a freelancer, it allows her to be playful (“sure thing” and high fives) without losing perfect classical technique...It signs off with Bracewell alone in a held pose. For me it ends with a happy sigh."

- Vera Liber, British Theatre Guide, February 2024

link to review

 

"...a fun, frothy work set to Brahms’ famous lullaby and Mozart’s variations on the tune we know as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Fumi Kaneko is light as a feather, zipping through her variations with a sense of mischief... it was certainly charming. Filled with comic touches, it is a happy piece..."

- Joy Sable, Jewish Chronicle February 16, 2024

 

"The final work of the evening was Twinkle and this was quite special, giving me echoes of the lovely work Dances At a Gathering (Jerome Robbins, 1969) for its warmth and beauty. The set was met with a collective sigh of wonder when revealed: a black piano on a small black stage, a large golden star in the top right of the stage and a grey sky with wispy clouds. The dancers shone in this ballet, with its exquisite choreography, beautiful movements, humorous timing and elegance. Fumi Kaneko, with her incredible technique, was charming and full of joy."

- Jenny Strong, London Unattached, February 17, 2024

 

"Finally, Jessica Lang’s charming Twinkle sent us home in a happy and dreamy mood. Inspired by the childhood lullaby Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the American choreographer created a work of intense beauty and musically set to Brahms’s Cradle Song and Mozart’s Twelve Variations, popularly known as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, played on the piano by Kate Shipway. It’s about the childhood fascination with stars; Lang’s own set design has a large twinkling light piece suspended high above the stage to our right; but it’s also about the dancers, all 10 of which get their individual moment to shine. Lang’s vocabulary is classical with playful tweaks. At times the dancers’ hands flutter in unison like twinkling stars; they fleet across the stage like ephemeral streaks of light. Most enchanting of all were principals William Bracwell and Fumi Kaneko, both stars in more ways that one."

- Teresa Guerreiro, Culture Whisperer, February 16, 2024

 

"this very classical piece was meticulously crafted. William Bracewell and Fumi Kaneko were sublime in the leading roles, both so well-suited to the mellifluous, poetic movement. The supporting roles were supremely well-danced too, the difficult and virtuosic steps skilfully delivered by this particular cast."

- Deborah Weiss, Bachtrack, February 17, 2024

link to review

 

"An airy suite to Mozart’s piano music, played live onstage, Jessica Lang’s Twinkle whipped the cast’s sparkling technique into a refreshing soufflé of pristine classical dancing."

- Barbara Newman,  Dancewatch, February 20, 2024

 

"...A spaceflight from New Yorker Lang, with humour and charm... It was much more traditionally 'ballet' in nature, but the cheeky high-fiving, fluttering off stage and unexpected turns stood out. It's the imagery that shall remain in the mind's eye."

- James Ellis, London Theatre Reviews, February 16, 2024