Seenandheard-International by Roderic Dunnett

Death in Venice

But rapidly the dance proves so successful, and Heise’s choreographing so electrifying as well as intensely original, that one is swept up in the cavortings. There was an intriguing contrast: while Tadzio was choreographed almost entirely adagio, or a light andante, his boy friend Jaschiu (Chris Agius Darmanin, a Maltese who trained and has worked largely in Britain) was like a human scherzo enveloping him: endless energy, extraordinarily inventive athleticism – Heise seems to give them vital new twists and turns, far from predictable or obvious, which in time begins to pall with Tadzio as his interest in Aschenbach is awakened. ‘Surely the soul of Greece was in that perfection’.