Nederlands Dans Theater & Complicité: Figures in Extinction

Sadler’s Wells, London
November 5, 2025

Nederlands Dans Theater and Complicité take us through a series of endings in three stages. From the general to the personal, from species to the individual, Figures in Extinction leads the viewer to contemplate demise in various flavours accompanied by a smorgasbord of music and speech. It recalls the glory days of Ballets C de la B but less frenetic, although it has its moments.

Crystal Pite’s choreography never sacrifices the aesthetically pleasing for effective expression. Alongside her, Simon McBurney avoids the pitfalls of anthropomorphism whilst not being afraid to sprinkle wit amongst the wisdom; and that’s not forgetting a smattering of neuroscience, courtesy of collaborator Iain McGilchrist. Pite has a fascinating way of illustrating filler words in speech, the repetition being realised like a physical scribble unfolding with muscular contractions instead of ink.

Part 1 evolves around a list of species that are considered extinct. Scientifically it is rather simplistic; after all, not all extinctions occur for the same reason and certainly not all due to man. Somewhat predictably, the passenger pigeon makes the list but contemporary analyses have shown that it was a species that had particularly dramatic population fluctuations even without the influence of humans, making it especially vulnerable to multiple pressures.

There’s a bit of collapsing topography and weather changing referenced too for good measure. A particularly effective moment sees one dancer don giant ibex horns, not on his head, but on his arms where, back muscles flexing, he transforms his silhouette into the semblance of a condor.

Part 2 focuses on humans in the modern, technocratic world. It cocks a snoop at the isolation caused by an overload of information consumed on mobile telephones, the dancers illustrating being apart whilst they are paradoxically together.

Part 3 is a requiem and includes a particularly effective hospital death scene combining the poignant with the prosaic. Kubler-Ross gets an inevitable look-in, and the piece ends with a delightful romp through physiological decomposition.

At almost three hours, Figures in Extinction is long. But the time whizzed by. Mention must be made of Tom Visser’s excellent lighting design which assists audience focus and is visually arresting. This is a definite must-see, jam packed with significance and meaning which is often sadly lacking in many other ultra-abstract performances.