Sadler’s Wells, London
March 25, 2022
The BalletBoyz 2020 tour of their Deluxe double-bill lasted just seven shows before the pandemic hit. It soon appeared online as part of Sadler’s Wells’ digital offerings and the BBC’s Culture in Quarantine festival, but now it’s back where it belongs, live on stage.
The 2022 ensemble is much changed from that of two years ago. And what an adaptable group they are, mostly having to learn already created choreography rather than having work made on them, and two very different pieces at that.
In the introductory, illuminating video that provides a window into the frustrations, doubts and joys or the creative process, Chinese choreographer Xie Xin (謝欣) reiterated the comments made to SeeingDance about the challenges of working with an all-male group of dancers.
Photo George Piper
Her Ripple is a beautiful, fluid work that remains true to its title. It constantly reminds one of shifting water, more often than not gently rippling, but every now and again the softness interrupted as though a stone has been tossed into the pool causing a more dramatic splash.
The work was inspired partly by the memory of a person, a point Xie Xin references by opening and closing it with one dancer gently rocking another’s head side to side.
Thereafter, and with the dancers dressed in the earthy loose shorts and baggy pants so loved by several choreographers from the region, circles are at the heart of the choreography. Torso, arms, legs, everything constantly spiral, although every now and again they are interrupted by a punchier straight line as if a stone had been tossed into the pool of thought causing an unexpected, even violent, splash.
Duets are complex but rarely involve physical contact, the dancers instead appearing to be connected by invisible strings, or perhaps just thoughts. Always there is energy and power, but equally invariably, it is contained, controlled and graceful. And if that wasn’t enough, it sits perfectly with Jiang Shaofeng’s (姜少峰) emotionally lush but slightly experimental score.
Maxine Doyle’s Bradley 4.18 could hardly be more different. Based on the lyrics of spoken word artist Kate Tempest’s ‘Pictures On A Screen’, it traces the mixed up mind of the title insomniac at 4.18am, unsure whether he is actually awake or asleep.
There are actually six Bradleys, all in suits and with bruises painted on their faces (not at all obvious from distance), although how they got them is left for us to wonder. One by one, and then two together, the dancers stagger and wander onto the stage as if inebriated.
Photo George Piper
The choreography suggests a man troubled and ‘on-the-edge’, if not quite falling. There are odd moments of playfulness but they never last, the dance largely as introspective as you might imagine. Bradley is haunted, and well and truly worn down. In the ensemble sections, there’s a lot of staggering, shoving, clinging onto each other. There’s text too, although it’s hard to pick up exactly what it’s about (I did hear references to milk and tomatoes going off in the fridge) over Cassie Kinoshi’s saxophone and music that’s as tortured as the man we see.
For all that, Doyle actually doesn’t reveal much. The introductory film suggests we are supposed to see different aspects of the title character from different dancers. I didn’t. And although we see masculinity, it is very much of a sort. It feels stereotypical and superficial. The longer Bradley 4.18 goes on, the more it seems to get lost in itself, although I suppose that could be a perfect reflection of the man himself.
Deluxe by the BalletBoyz continues on tour. Visit www.balletboyz.com for dates, venues and booking links.