Sadler’s Wells, London (as part of Dance Umbrella)
October 18, 2024
Mesmerising, infuriating, and riveting in turns, Radioactive Practice is an hour of almost completely silent physical exertion by six performers.
It’s performed entirely without accompaniment apart from the sounds made by the dancers themselves, although music does define pauses between sections of the piece, and two other very short sequences. When it comes, Matthew Peyton Dixon’s score is evocative and it seems a pity that it does not accompany the entire work.
Photo Maria Baranova
The choreography by Abby Z (for Zbikowski) demands that the performers repeat sequences of movement that demand extreme physical prowess, and endurance. The choreography combines elements of many dance forms, including street, classical, and contemporary, alongside gymnastics and parkour.
The performers encourage each other to increasingly strenuous movement. All six (Indya Childs, Ishmael Konney, Fiona Lundie, Mya McClellan, Jennifer Meckley, and Benjamin Roach) were exuberant and intense. However, truly exceptional was their ability to move in unison, in formation, in sequence and pattern, without so much as a half-beat missed. Watching them, you could almost hear the music they were conjuring from their counting rhythm and cue signals.
But while Abby Z’s choreography is mesmerising, it’s also over repeated, which then becomes infuriating, and makes the hour that Radioactive Practice lasts seem to stretch-out for much longer.