Sadler’s Wells, London
July 7, 2024
It was a very special evening at Sadler’s Wells as nine youth dance companies from all over England came together in an initiative to celebrate creativity titled Making Moves. The audience were predominantly proud parents and family, and the atmosphere backstage must have been organised chaos with the huge cast of youngsters sorting costumes, entrances and exits. What was presented on stage was filled with a potent mix of commitment, excitement and joy at what had been achieved, creating memories that will last for a very long time.
Each short dance work had merit, the standard was uniformly high, well rehearsed, well dressed with every performer giving their best. The themes were varied but related strongly to concerns of most 11-18-year-olds: social media, identity, culture and community. The theme of heroes spiralled into many different ideas. The groups and dancers had the spur from toolkits designed by leading choreographers: Alesandra Seutin, Dannielle ‘Rhimes’ Lecointe, Jordan Douglas and Oona Doherty.
As important as the performance was, the hours spent in the rehearsal room, enjoying creating together and making a dance work that was owned by the performers was at least as valuable.
Photo Jack Thomson
Many of the works had chosen serious themes, costumes were simple with grey the colour of choice. However, 28 Dance Company from Hertfordshire donned clown hats to present The Party. It was a good choice with imaginative fun and plenty of squabbles using ideas from Oona Doherty’s toolkit. Musical chairs gave opportunity for choreographed innovation and they moved on to play Statues with the physical shapes woven into dance. It was the losers who caught my attention with a wonderful display of bad-tempered sulks.
The Barbara Priestman Academy in Cor Bellator and Langley Park School for Boys in Ordinary to Extraordinary chose the theme of heroes, interpreted in different ways but both reaching a powerful and positive climax. Each took inspiration from Lecointe’s toolkit. For the boys it came in the dynamic elements of street dance, bold contact partnering and relish in the power that their dance released. For the dancers in Cor Bellator the struggle was less overt but the triumph at least as potent as the dancer on crutches, overcame obstacles and finally got to stand.
Stacked Wonky from West Somerset explored beyond dance to incorporate breath and voice in You Don’t Know Either. They maintained a persuasive group dynamic throughout that allowed individual expression without losing the unity of purpose. There was a plenty of exciting dance from a group that recognised power had many means of expression and dance was a great deal more than just entertainment.
The feelings evoked by images were the inspiration for Somewhere in Between from Hampshire Youth Dance Company. There are a strong group of dancers and worked cohesively notably in high lifts achieved seamlessly and collectively. They explored the sense of needing to fit in while remaining true to your unique identity in a well-structured work of quality choreography.
Endless Cycles from Curve Young Dance Company in Leicester found inspiration in poems and added some of their own words. The group structure also gave opportunity for solo dancers in a fluid contemporary style. It was impressive, across the groups, how they had managed to organise their ideas so well and present them in so cohesive a manner.
In UZAK, Ceyda Tanc Youth Dance explored a wide range of world issues in imaginative fashion through the medium of Turkish Folk Dance then cleverly subverted the traditional moves to remake with relevance to modern codes of gender and diversity. It made a compelling work, sophisticated in structure with dynamic movement to an innovative soundscape all under striking lighting design.
Obsidian, from Norfolk, presented Disconnect finding inspiration in Jordan Douglas’ krump style of punchy moves. It was a high energy number, in a group that kept intense focus, never losing the pulse. They too had an interesting light design which shaped the choreography to hold the interest.
Stockport Grammar School presented The Place which cleverly wove the Suffragettes, LS Lowry, the Industrial Revolution and Stockport Viaduct into a sophisticated dance work. They are one of England’s more fortunate schools that has dance on the curriculum, and it showed in the dancers’ confidence and ability.
There is so much talent and ability out there but not a single political party had a coherent arts policy in the run-up to the election. Mental health, especially among the young did however feature and what better way to tackle this important issue that for young people to work together in a supportive, creative environment and dance!