Vienna Festival Ballet’s annual visit has become one of the regular treats of the Lichfield Garrick calendar so I lost no time in rushing along to see their latest offering, a new dance version of Snow White.
And I’m delighted to say I was very far from disappointed, in fact the whole evening is a delight.
You all know the story, so I won’t bore you with that because the real charm of this evening is the freshness of the company’s many young dancers and the lightness and charm of so many lively, danceable tunes.
In the sure hands of company’s artistic director Peter Mallek these become the opportunity for seemingly endless choreographic invention bringing out the pure joie de vivre of this sparkling young company. If the exposition of this well-known tale in Act One seems a tad slow the comedy of Act Two during which Snow White strays into the forest and meets the dextrously comic knockabout dwarves takes us more or less into the delightfully danced world of pantoland.
But the real delights are saved for the last act’s wedding ball in which choreographic heights are genuinely scaled and this fresh, vibrant young company show themselves as more than deserving the storms of applause that meet every triumphant set piece.
A feel-good evening, the perfect example of the genuine celebration of dance that is Vienna Festival Ballet.