A miserable Sunday with cancelled overland trains to Stratford did not bode well for my first experience of Sadler’s Wells East, a brand-new, sparkling arts venue, putting east London on the map as a cultural contender, but we are rewarded with a wonderful, uplifting treat of a first performance that makes the trek across London in the howling wind and rain totally worth it.
I’m here to see Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu’s Our Mighty Groove, a clubby party piece and ideal opener to launch the new venue—a 550-seater theatre for dance in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, part of a new arts corridor alongside the V&A and BBC studios. It’s a stunning space decked out in pale wood and huge windows in the foyer, aiming to pull in new audience to dance.
Inspired by her own personal experiences on a New York dance floor, Igbokwe-Ozoagu’s Our Mighty Groove takes place in a club, with all the hilarious, sassy characters and subplots that come part and parcel with a club night out, strutting your stuff past the doorman to gain entry, then showing off outfits and moves. The show was originally premièred at the Lilian Baylis Studio in 2013 as part of the Wild Card programme, but has been remixed, and tonight we are looking at the expanded cast of local east London dancers who join forces with Uchenna Dance Company.
Dancing is a lively concoction of show-off moves from waacking, breakdancing and voguing. Each dancer and their minions are introduced at the top of the club stairs, via the friendly security guard, then strut down to central stage in full, selfie celebrity importance. It’s a cross between Ru Paul’s Drag Race and Mean Girls. First to appear at the club gates is silvery, shimmering Insta queen Iona Brie as the vogueing celeb guest known as Blue. Next slides in Angelika Napierała modelling oversized specs, bringing long lines and expressive balletic arms to her contemporary waacking. Then, last but not least, glorious Shanelle Clemenson as the ultimate club diva struts downstairs, brushing past the security guard to consume the stage, kitted out from head to foot in sequins, all crimson swaying hips and sassy poses as her girl gang mirror her moves, acting as personal bouncers.
The soundtrack is a fabulous collaboration between Ghanaian-based Kweku Aacht and London-based Warren “Flamin Beatz” Morgan-Humphreys. It draws on Aacht’s three decades of immersion in club and rave culture incorporating '70s jazz, funk and disco with a passion for tracking African beats thrown into the mix. The first 30 minutes of the show is a performance on the main stage and requires you to sit still and watch, but it’s hard not to bop about in your seat.
Then, after a 40-minute break, we are summoned back into a completely different space—a configuration that resembles a club with a central podium and lots of mini stages for dance-offs. The audience is now part of the action, and if you are up for a boogie (we rammed our tote bags next to the stairs on the central podium, but go hands-free), it’s great fun. The dancers mingle with the audience and point us in the right direction as stages light up for the dancers.
At one point, we are taught a line dance, important to follow and move in the same direction to avoid collision. We are tightly squeezed into a space, a bit like how it would feel at a club. The dancers are all talented and slick, executing Ozoagu’s signature blend of club styles from house, waacking and vogue—then overlaid with African contemporary dance sways with verve and energy. The party spirit is rife, and my teenage daughter is in heaven, wishing she’d come with her friends rather than her mum.