Ballet de Lorraine: Acid Gems and a Folia

Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London
March 7, 2026

For their brief visit to London, Ballet de Lorraine from Nancy presented two works by 2025 Rose Dance Prize nominee, Marco da Silva Ferreira, and Adam Linder, winner of the 2008 Place Prize, which set out to be a sort of Turner Prize for choreographers, but that was never annual and only lasted for five editions, the last being in 2013. The two pieces proved strikingly similar in choreography, design and composition, to the extent that they could almost have been choreographed by the same person.

Linder’s Acid Gems was inspired by George Balanchine’s Jewels. It’s as high-energy, colourful and kaleidoscopic as its publicity suggests. As in Jewels, dancers form and reform patterns and shapes, the dance about the music and movement and nothing else. The thirty-minute piece is skilfully crafted, the choreography full of interesting movements as Linder creates a sort of living tapestry.

The Ballet de Lorraine dancers were outstanding, performing with elan. They owned the stage, their ensemble work impressive.

The music, more a sort of soundscape, an original composition by Billy Bultheel consists largely of a series of drumbeats, punctuated by other noises. While never becoming music in the accepted sense, it is far from unpleasant and fits the choreography well. Antonin Tron’s costumes, leotards in various shades and shapes work less well, and are somewhat unbecoming. If intended to jar, they achieved that intention.

In Portugal, the folia is a lively 15th-century folk dance originally danced by shepherds. Historic records indicate it taking place in a festive atmosphere where everyone let loose completely.

Danced to a score by Luis Pestana, inspired by Arcangelo Corelli’s Violin Sonata in D minor La Folia, Op.5, da Silva Ferreira’s choreography for a Folia is certainly a wild party, one of ecstasy and rebellion and modern club culture. The link to the 15th-century is lost rather, however.

The choreography closely resembles Acid Gems, the dancers creating patterns across the stage and groupings with no obvious other purpose. Aleksandar Protic’s costumes are similar in many ways to Tron’s designs, again very colourful but giving no hint of any historical or folk influence.

The lighting for both a Folia (Teresa Antunes) and Acid Gems (Olivier Bauer) do the job but lack much creative edge, which would have served both pieces well.

Overall, the double-bill certainly proved an interesting evening, one full of excellent dancing, if one that was also rather repetitive. The strong similarity between the two pieces did neither any favours. Perhaps matched with something totally different, each independently would have felt a greater sense of innovation and engagement.