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Sarasota News Leader February 8, 2013 Page 81 of their partners dressed in equally dazzling outfits. Yes: a colorful and familiar sight signaling a familiar but dated staging of a ballet. Birthday Offering was created to celebrate the struggling Sadler Wells Ballet Company's elevation into The Royal Ballet. To honor each of the seven ballerinas in the company, Sir Frederick Ashton choreographed solos that revealed their personalities. Recreating the individual qualities of these celebrated dancers was a challenge that Barbieri tackled with determination and grace. However, I would say that of the seven variations — lyrical Amy Wood (in the part created for Svetlana Beriosova), who danced with deliberate, slow control as though the steps had meaning for her; and Ellen Overstreet (Violetta Elvin), with her flirtatious, neat solo, presented the most successful interpretations. Victoria Hulland (Margot Fonteyn) had the most challenging variation, and though she is a musical dancer and her technique is flawless, there was little to remind me of Fonteyn's easy gracefulness. Victoria Hulland has the Fonteyn role in Birthday Offering. Photo by Frank Atura The seven men — including three new dancers — were competently energetic in the Mazurka and able partners. Ashton likes busy footwork, and each solo had as many small batterie and mincing steps as he could put into a variation; but in general, the dancers wore too many pasted-on smiles on their faces and showed little connection to the choreography as they automatically danced their way through the classical vocabulary. Still, all was forgiven in the finale as the soaring Glazanov score swept the seven couples around the stage in a sparkling waltz, Will Tuckett lifts Rita Duclos during a rehearsal of Changing Light. Photo by Shirley Blair