Magical Journey to Vienna

The necessarily episodic nature of Ballet Ireland's Magical Journey to Vienna shows this small company to have some very talented…

The necessarily episodic nature of Ballet Ireland's Magical Journey to Vienna shows this small company to have some very talented dancers and, in Werner Dittrich and Audrey Whelan, a costume-design team couturiers might envy. The different evocations of style and convention - cleverly exaggerated in the Polichinelles excerpt from The Nutcracker by choreographer Gunther Falusy - give a display-case impression.

The excerpt from Coppelia (reproduced by artistic director Anne Maher) provides a sense of ensemble and Falusy's own Lost Love (to Tchai kovsky's music) shows that these young dancers have heart as well as technique.

Mary Leland

Mary Leland is a contributor to The Irish Times specialising in culture