Ballet Central’s joyful performance at Oxford Playhouse showcased the talent of Central School of Ballet’s graduating students. The dancers presented a programme of three short modern works, followed by Act III of Coppélia, restaged by Adela Ramirez.

The opening piece, Stay On It, was a new commission by choreographer Jules Cunningham. It was a chance for the nine dancers to show precision and control in a dance that demonstrated their ability to centre their bodies in first, rather than fifth position as they moved rhythmically in mathematical patterns. The dancers worked on the whole foot or demi-pointe, walking heel- (rather than toe-) first, their faces alert and alive as they negotiated sharp turns and changes of direction. Julius Easterman’s score seemed to me to convey the insistent demands of modern life, and the pressure just to keep going, to which the dance responded by bringing a sense of order.

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