When leading dancer Tamara Rojo left the Royal Ballet this summer, there was suddenly a star-sized gap in the upper ranks of the company. Who would fill it? Step forward Marianela Nuñez. The 30-year-old Argentinian has been a principal with the Royal for a decade but in the last few years has become a stand-out performer and audience favourite.
Opening the autumn season, Nuñez shows she has mastered ballet’s best-known work. Anthony Dowell’s 1987 production is a maximalist one, with a large cast (including children), at least one superfluous character (the tutor) and lots of mime (novice Swan Lakers should read the synopsis beforehand) but it’s a visual feast, with a tightly drilled corps de ballet and Yolanda Sonnabend’s luscious and distinctly Russian designs.
Nuñez is partnered by her real-life husband Thiago Soares. He is good but, frankly, is outclassed by his wife. To be fair, the twin role of Odette/Odile (the white/black swans) gives a girl a lot to get her teeth into. After the folksy shindig that is Act I, Nuñez’s arrival moves things into a different dimension. She’s a glacial swan maiden, stretching out her crystal-clear lines to fill every corner of the music, with a stillness at the centre as if her heart is locked in a block of ice. In Act III she switches personalities to play the trickster Odile with wicked relish and a glint in the eye; you can almost see her salivating.
Swan Lake has come to represent a few things that are frustrating about ballet: the outdated image that it’s all fairytales and music-box ballerinas; the reliance on old masters preserved in aspic to keep the box office happy. But when you find yourself holding your breath watching the exquisite extension of Nuñez’s leg or the flicker of her swan’s wing, all is forgiven. There will be many more leading swans throughout the run — including a guest appearance from intense ex-Bolshoi dancer Natalia Osipova — but Nuñez is a bird worth catching.
Until November 24 (020 7304 4000, roh.org.uk)
