Who is Carmen? A free-spirited lover, a girl bent on destruction, or a pragmatist utilizing the one forex she has to get what she needs? In Johan Inger’s ballet, given its UK premiere by English Nationwide Ballet, it’s onerous to say. She flirts (and extra) with each man she passes, however merely for sport it appears. And it seems this isn’t actually Carmen’s ballet – she doesn’t even get a solo – and the story belongs to Don José (Rentaro Nakaaki), a person so tortured by the fantasy of a girl who won’t ever love him that it leads him to homicide her.

The bleakness solely comes later although. All of it begins out a lot hotter, with Bizet’s perky overture and the full of life impulse and assault of the choreography. You are feeling a rush of power as the ladies arrive, storming the stage with ruffled clothes and self-possession. Swedish choreographer Inger provides us limbs angled like arrows; deep, squat plies in second place adopted by our bodies zipped up on the vertical. There’s levity too and many floorwork, all dealt with simply by ENB’s agile dancers – not en pointe, however on level.

A rush of power … ENB’s Carmen. {Photograph}: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

Inger likes a choreographic gadget, whether or not that’s the chorus-like determine of Francesca Velicu who stands outdoors the motion, reflecting its hope and woe, or the ominous gang of black-clad and masked figures who typically manipulate the gamers. Among the many varied lovers Carmen (Minju Kang) takes, Erik Woolhouse’s Torero, soloing in entrance of a financial institution of mirrors in a sequinned bolero, is perhaps her true match within the narcissist stakes. Woolhouse is sweet, hamming it up and throwing his physique into the deep curves of the choreography.

The piece makes use of Rodion Shchedrin’s Sixties reboot of the Bizet rating, with moody additions by Spanish composer Marc Alvarez. The stripped-back designs shift into darkness in tandem with the story, the Spanish cliches are reduce out, and so is the fervour. Inger’s is an attention-grabbing if emotionally hole interpretation, specializing in Don José’s obsession and break. Inger’s intention was to discover violence in opposition to ladies, particularly males who kill their ex-partners, and there’s one thing in that. However maybe we owe it to the lady in query to make her a three-dimensional character.

At Sadler’s Wells, London, till 6 April

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