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SCENE IT: Cape Ballet Africa guides audiences to paradise with ELYSIUM
Maria Kearns
When naming your show after the Elysian Fields, that gentrified neighbourhood of the afterlife only accessible to the gods and the god-adjacent who spend all their time blissfully playing music and (yes, I looked this up) engaging in sport, you can but hope that the experience will live up to expectations. Happily, I can confirm that with its quadruple bill ELYSIUM Cape Ballet Africa has given its home city something that is, indeed, absolutely heavenly.
“Allegro Brillante”, choreographed by George Balanchine in 1956 and featuring excellent work by Paige McElligott, served as a pleasant introduction to the evening, though it was soon overshadowed by the sheer luminosity of the rest of the programme.
With its stark, dramatic lighting and inspired choice of music, Kenneth Tindall’s brand new “We Met at the Moon, Briefly”(created for the Cape Ballet Africa company) showcases movement that appears, at times, to challenge the laws of physics as the dancers, led by the stellar Leanè Theunissen,engage in a mesmerising display of pursuit, longing, and retreat. It was at about the 1-minute mark of this piece that I started wishing the company could be persuaded to rerun the whole show as soon as the final curtain fell.
In Nacho Duato’s “Remanso” from 1997, an electrifying piece that makes you wonder whether the choreographer decided to take the phrase ‘performance art’ literally by draping bodies all over a large canvas that serves as backdrop, three male dancers enthrall the audience with an astonishingdemonstration of strength and artistry. Here, as in the rest of the show, Joshua Williams stands out thanks to his extraordinary sensitivity, energy, and precision of movement.
Finally, “Duende”, created by Michelle Reid as an homage to the late Sir Geoffrey Neiman, the much-loved Spanish Dance pioneer, provides a dazzling, invigorating ending to the evening’s spectacle. This work, inspired by the Spanishtradition, sees the company take to the stage in generously fringed costumes that immediately transport all those watching to a different part of the world. The refreshingly daring choreography proves a brilliant showcase for the entire company (and certainly reinforced my already-stated desire to see the whole thing again immediately).
What could be more appropriate to a show called ELYSIUM than a glorious display of athleticism and artistic excellence? If you, too, start wondering about the point of it all around this time of year, allow me to recommend with sincere enthusiasm an evening at the ballet to remind you where Paradise lies.
ELYSIUM opened at the Baxter Theatre (Pam Golding Theatre) on 3 October 2026 and will be playing until 10 October 2026. Tickets can be booked online through Webtickets.