English National Ballet is in a fix. Not a financial fix (that was sorted out a couple of years ago), but an artistic and cultural one. Its dancers are able and keen for new work and its director a cultivated man, yet much of its repertory is dated and its funding and remit hinder the chances for change.

The result is endless repeats of the popular classics, and often bored-looking dancers. We're all so used to the situation that you realise how dire it's become only when the company does something different.

Last night was just such a night. To sighs of relief, ENB performed a mixed bill at the Royal Festival Hall, and although the programme wasn't perfect (much seemed under-rehearsed), the company looked fresher, happier and more nuanced than we assume them to be.

It's difficult to describe the relief at seeing Agnes Oaks and Thomas Edur not in Swan Lake. We know they can dazzle as swan and swain, but in David Dawson's A Million Kisses to my Skin they shimmered. Sleek and intelligent, Kisses is a pure dance piece, made in 2000 and set to Bach's Piano Concerto No 1 in D minor.

The nine dancers are nimble and joyous, and the steps really seem to evoke the pleasure of kisses on skin. The only criticisms are the influence of William Forsythe (little contemporary ballet escapes his effect) and the too-brief leotard-style costumes that ride distractingly over the dancer's bottoms.

A work that has been in ENB's rep much longer is Harald Lander's Etudes, a ballet about a ballet class that sees the dancers work at the barre then on increasingly difficult Adage and Allegro moves. It is a big piece, and ENB occasionally looked under-prepared, although Elena Glurdjidze was all radiance as the lead ballerina.

These two upbeat works bookended a new, much more sombre ballet by ENB director Wayne Eagling. Resolution is set to Mahler's R¸ckert Lieder and is inspired by the courage Eagling witnessed in children dying from Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Some question ballets linked to this kind of physical suffering, but Resolution is keenly felt, if unevenly performed and incompletely expressed. You suspect that Eagling ran out of rehearsal time, and couldn't fully marshal his ideas, added to which the costumes, lighting and dry ice are all pretty awful.

Still, this is a welcome programme. Hopefully ENB can muster more.

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