Variety, versatility, vitality might describe the performances this evening of eight short pieces: two restagings and six new creations, three of the latter in collaboration with the dancers of the hundred-year-old Rambert School.
Two halves of about an hour each—each half with a golden oldie—fly by, as do the students. A workout for them, a range of styles for us, mostly contemporary with a bit of breaking dancing and some pointe work thrown in for fun, for Michael Clarke vogue.
The second piece in the first half is an extract from Wayne MacGregor’s 2008 Entity, restaged by Neil Fleming Brown. A dozen dancers from the second year are fearless in taking on his backbreaking style. Maybe not yet as swaybacked as his own company, but their avian pecking is pretty sharp. All shapes and heights, they look like robots let loose, the white noise soundtrack seems to point that way, as do the binary code markings on their T-shirts. The lead couple are intense and totally in the moment.
The first piece in the second half, Russell Maliphant’s Fallen, made for BalletBoyz in 2013, restaged by Edd Arnold, is quite different. These are not individuals doing their own thing, but brothers in arms, reliant on each other in trying times. Stonehenge I think this time: rock solid and perpetual. “Star-shaped outer circle framing a tight knit inner circle… in combat khaki split into two equal groups. Martial moves, shoulder lifts, contact work, knee squats and rolls, acrobatic kung fu kicks.” “Perpetual circling motion, on alert, hyped up, ready for anything.” “Combat gives way to supportive formations, cooperation and mutual benefit”, I wrote in 2014… The second-year students do it fine justice.
Not all of the six new numbers hit the mark for me, but that doesn’t matter, it’s the span that does. Seeta Patel’s very short Lost in the Crowd lost me. In hooded black tops, barefooted, a dozen third-year students play a form of tick, ostracising one of the number by pulling down the hood. To Górecki’s Quasi Una Fantasia String Quartet power dynamics are played out in a contemporary dance style flavoured with a pinch of bharatanatyam.
After the second spot McGregor comes Ana Maria Lucaciu’s Travelling Song created with the third-year dancers. In casual clothes, ten dancers have fun being ‘themselves’. I’m guessing, of course. Lucaciu’s states it’s about students moving from groups to smaller pods to individuals. I think amoeba at first. The beat is good, the moves are cool, and one of the songs is “Unchained Melody”, which touches my heart. Look up the lyrics.
Closing the first half on a high is Billionaires in Space (And Don't Come Back!) by Thick & Tight (Daniel Hay-Gordon and Eleanor Perry), created with third-year dancers, costumes by Thick & Tight with Chloe Mead, and music is Talking Heads "Moon Rocks". This one is a hoot. A witty, sexy, camp disco ballet: in silver space suits, silver oven gloves, they mouth text à la Crystal Pite, and have something of Michael Clarke’s irreverence. There’s a CEO and the richest entrepreneurs de nos jours you can think of—Apple, Facebook, Tesla, Google, BP, Shell, Nike, etc. the names on the cardboard boxes. Sadly, it coincides with the recent loss of billionaires under the sea, but the above sentiment is satirical, naturally.
The three that follow after Fallen in the second half strive hard to top that. Inspired by Salman Rushdie’s “how does newness come into the world?” quote, Jessica Nupen’s Geburt for eleven third years tries hard to be confrontational and sardonic. There’s a lot going on. There’s formation, there’s falling and catching, timing is all. They jerk, they judder, they walk, they run on the spot. One plays a pretend piano, are they still in the moronic stage of evolution? Or are they trying desperately to be noticed?
Dear, I Fear by Daniel Davidson in collaboration with third-years, in his hot pink costumes, seems to have multiple foci and mixes neoclassical with contemporary. The dancers are tremendous, but I don't know where to look. This is a McGregor trope. He always says, look where you like. Again, Michael Clarke springs to mind.
We go out on a high with the funny Toyfest by Kel Matsena and Anthony Matsena. Think Coppélia, think Toy Story films. And I think Crystal Pite’s Revisor, Betroffenheit, The Statement, and Hofesh Shechter’s SHOW. Eleven dancers in a variety of zany costume, designed by the choreographic pair and the students, run amok to a hip hop beat. A voice gives directions. They role-play cops and robbers (in ‘Pussy Riot’ balaclavas). A caretaker with torch stops their anarchy for a moment then on they go.
A potpourri showcase of technique, training, and the sheer joy of dance—Rambert School will celebrate its history with RS100 in an evening of choreography and dance on Wednesday 8 November 2023.