Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadlers Wells, London
October 19, 2025
Established by Sadler’s Wells in 1989, the Company of Elders is a performance group for non-professional dancers aged 60-plus. Each year, they commission choreographers to create new works. For this double bill, the honour fell to John-William Watson, a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp and an associate choreographer at Sadler’s Wells from 2020 to 2022; and Euan Garrett, who has appeared in a range of productions, including Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet, and Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia, A Mod Ballet.
Written, directed and choreographed by Watson, They Look Like People is a whimsical exploration of identity that asks, ‘Who are we?’ Accurately described as a ‘dance play,’ it is engaging, moving, funny, and entirely in keeping with the group of dancers. The work showcases the dancers’ movement fluidity with a gentle touch, as they tell their stories with an endearing charm.
Photo Ellie Kurttz
The choreography subtly underpins the performers’ grace and training, without any condescension whatsoever. They, in turn, performed the work elegantly and emotionally. Their rapport on stage, and they way that each danced, not just as an individual, but also as an intricate part of the connected group, was a joy to watch.
Unfortunately, Garrett’s The Real Me did not reach similar heights. Inspired by the choreographer’s role in Quadrophenia, A Mod Ballet, the work sets out to explore 1960’s culture, memory and Mods and Rockers identity, which many of the company members experienced first-hand.
Photo Ellie Kurttz
The Real Me starts well with a wonderful evocation of stormy seaside days, which the dancers really lent into. However, the choreography then descended into recreating moves that they might have been doing in the 1960s, rather than something that suggested, hinted at or gave the illusion of that time. Sadly missing in particular was the essence of tortured youth.
The performers gave their all but the choreography just didn’t play to their strengths, and didn’t make use of their undoubted elegance and presence. I left musing how much better The Real Me would have been if it had focused on reflection rather than re-enactment.