The triple bill—if you count the glorious surprise of the opening short film Dive by Sophie Laplane—takes its overall title from Dickson Mbi’s epic fifty-minute closing piece, Twice-Born. In between is Cayetano Soto’s jolly Schachmatt, just short of twenty minutes.
Dive, fashioned with co-creator James Bonas, director Oscar Sansom, music Schubert, Walter Wanderly and Lucy Allan, is “inspired” by Yves Klein’s “visionary ideas”. We are invited to “dive in… to the blue void”. Remember his staged shot of his Leap into the Void?
On a white canvas, a white swimming pool box—into which a white alpaca wanders… serenely—some dancers in plaster white (down to the eyelashes) and others head to toe in blue do incredible shapes with their bodies, poses for his sculptures, no doubt.
Laplane does Klein great service—he was, in his short life, at the emergence of performance art, abstract expressionism in art and music, founding the nouveau réalisme movement. It is geometric, abstract, surreal, witty and wonderful—sculptural art in motion.
I wish I had images to show you, but you can watch the film on Scottish Ballet’s web site if you become a friend—now there’s an enticement. Screened at the Venice Biennale in 2021, it won the Jury Prize for Best Film at Cinedans Festival 2022.
Cayetano Soto’s Schachmatt (Checkmate) does not outstay its welcome, but leaves me wanting more, his choice of music so infectious and an invitation to get up and dance: J’Attendrai (Rina Ketty), Di-Gue-Ding-Ding (Michel Le Grand), The Peter Gunn Theme (Jack Constanzo), Estaba Escrito (Monna Bell), Arrancame La Vida (Maria Teresa Lara—Toña La Nega), Lo Dudo (Los Panchos). Set, costumes and lighting design is Soto’s too—that’s a tight rein on his creation.
He says he was inspired by Pedro Almodovar, Bob Fosse and the humour of Joan Rivers (hmm…). There you have it in an amusing, precision game of dance chess, danced by five men and five women all dressed identically in black riding hats, knee-high black socks, grey shirts and hot-pants. Both high-stepping horses and riders... And high-stepping chorus girls... Pina Bausch would have loved the semaphoring hand gestures, their synchronised moves, their bums in the air, their glances, their sexy cabaret vibe. What a lift before the epic Twice-Born.
Dickson Mbi, a dancer I like very much: his Enowate (Olivier award 2023) and dance with Russell Maliphant (Critical Mass and Maliphant Works, namely Wall). He has been on a long journey from popping to an MA in Choreography from LCDS. And more—he is nothing if not ambitious. His new work, Twice-Born, inspired by ancient parables, bears that out.
Here, he seems to take on the birth of the world, a reborn matriarchy, a primitive tribe shaping and trying to understand the cosmos. Under Jessica Hung and Han Yun’s dark lighting stands a huge mountain, a rock-spewing volcano. Dancers collect the rocks, rearrange them into a wall, or dot them about the stage—lighting shows people-made marks on them.
A woman (Marge Hendrick), the only one on pointe, is in command. Time moves on, she dies, is lifted to heaven (on wires), is resurrected, and so it goes, life and death and evolution. Her people worship at her feet, circle her, protect her. This is serious stuff if somewhat portentous. The music resounds as if in a cathedral. Hazy lighting adds to that feel.
There are two chapters—dancers come on wearing masks—their dance language slightly altered. There is discord. They form groups, become a long cooperative vertebra, the dynamic shifts. But it is obscure. Is it a rite of spring, the mystery of life, the drama of life, death, grief? Is that a witch doctor? Is Mbi referencing his Cameroon heritage?
I see influences—Maliphant, Hofesh Schechter, Akram Khan, Crystal Pite. I like what I see, the twenty-one impressive dancers, its shaping, its design (set Ruby Law, costume Debbie Duru), but it’s too long, too repetitive, and the ending is abrupt. It needs some editing or trimming. Mbi shoulders his own concept, direction, choreography and original music (score includes soprano Lucy Crowe and percussionist Beibei Weng). That’s a big, impressive responsibility.
Mbi is the first Creative Associate of Scottish Ballet’s Next Generation Campaign—a programme “to house ten early-to-mid-career choreographers, designers, composers and film-makers, who will be involved in the development and production of at least ten new works by 2028”.
Good luck to Scottish Ballet off on tour to New Zealand next week. It is a hugely talented hard working company. Laplane and Bonas are choreographing Mary, Queen of Scots, which will open at the Edinburgh International Festival. No grass grows under their feet…