Review: BALLETBOYZ DELUXE, Sadler’s Wells
Balletboyz have returned to live performance and it’s mesmerising.
Deluxe is a double bill of brand new dance developed alongside choreographers Xie Xin (TAO Dance Theatre, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Eastman) and Maxine Doyle (Punchdrunk).
In Act I, we see Ripple. Xie Xin has worked with Balletboyz to… “explore a movement style partly inspired by the memory of a person in your mind”. Prior to the performance, we see a video of Xie Xin, explaining the thoughts behind the dance and her process. She wants to invoke a ripple in water when you throw a stone.
The result is beautiful. Such is the physicality of dancers and their ability to move and contort their bodies so extensively that the flow of movement and energy is hypnotic. Throughout the dance, we see combinations of the dancers performing this conversation through movement as they pull each other off the floor and about the stage with their energy. For the most part, there is a one dancer who seems to cause or control the ripple.
The ambience of this original music, composed by Jiang Shoafeng, is perfect for the piece. Slow and calming at first with only two dancers on stage, it is soporific. We hear sounds like waves lapping on the sea shore. There is a crescendo in the music as more dancers join, the ripple gets bigger and the movements more intense. Finally the calm is restored and we are back to two dancers on stage, more still, with smaller movements of head rolls and arm waves. The audience is transfixed. It’s as if we need to snap out of hypnosis when it ends.
Maxine Doyle has choreographed Act II, Bradley 4:18, collaborating with the Balletboyz to create this theatrical dance. She has taken inspiration from the lyrics of a poem by Kate Tempest, Pictures on a Screen, which depicts Bradley, a successful city type who is awake at 4:18. Again, we are treated to an explanatory video with Maxine and the dancers in the studio, giving us some context and an insight into the rehearsal process.
The dancers are all dressed in the same blue suit and pink shirt. At first, there are solos with each dancer taking on a side of Bradley’s personality. We see Bradley as bored, irritable, angry, narcissistic, tormented, struggling to sleep and connect with the world. It is clear through the dance in each vignette what he is feeling and effectively explores insomnia. We also see group sections where the Bradley's are dancing together, or battling with each other, where some of the movement and emotion is reminiscent of ‘Cool’ from the original West Side Story film of 1961. It shows the character fighting with himself and his emotions.
The original music is composed specifically for this piece by Cassie Kinoshi of the Mercury nominated Seed Ensemble. It’s a jazz number that is at times smooth and melodic and others erratic, complimenting the ups and downs of Bradley’s emotions. The Balletboyz fuse contemporary and jazz as they are lit by low spot lights to depict the time of night.
This show makes dance accessible. We are given context to the pieces by the videos, making it more enjoyable and so we can sit and get lost in the joy of dance.
We are in awe of the talent of the dancers, musicians and creatives behind Deluxe. Balletboyz Deluxe is brilliant.
***** Five stars
Reviewed by: Victoria Willetts
BalletBoyz: Deluxe is touring around the UK until 19 May 2022, with tickets available here.