The Place, London
January 13, 2026
Having started way back in 1990, Resolution remains a shop window for new choreographers, offering support and development, training and encouragement. Given the inexperience of the choreographers, it’s inevitable that not everything quite works. On this programme, one did very well indeed, one partially, and one struggled.
Starting with EntreCuerpos, the one that just didn’t work. Choreographed and danced by Isadora D’Héloïsa it is described as an encounter between vogue and flamenco. Although D’Héloïsa has trained extensively in the latter in Spain, there was little evidence of this in the piece, the flamenco seemingly reduced to foot stamping and hand gestures.
For most of the work’s 25 minutes, D’Héloïsa strutted around the stage in various costumes redolent of vogue, but in the case of the first, inhibiting of her ability to move, much less dance. Her costume changes were covered by Carlos de Luise singing in Spanish, which felt disconnected to the piece. Perhaps a translation may have helped.
EntreCuerpos felt long. D’Héloïsa’s parade around the stage was repetitive, sexually suggestive rather than sensual, and apparently random. Perhaps starting with real flamenco dance, and then working the connection to vogue through costume, rather than sensuality, audacity and power, might be a more rewarding approach.
Photo Jemima Yong
Archive/Flesh/Echoes proved a more developed group piece. Choreographed by Qi Song (宋琦), a Chinese dancer now based in London, and featuring nine dancers, it takes an all-night rave as its starting point, and looks for connections between and among the ravers. The choreography features an interesting mix of couples and singles, coming together in creative sequences of ensemble dance, which overall were well executed.
It did again become somewhat repetitive however. Without a clear structure and story, attention began to drift. The dancers appeared to be doing quite a lot of improvisation, which would have benefitted from being properly choreographed, as each tended to rely on what they felt comfortable doing, which in the case of one male dancer, was an endless succession of solo pelvic thrusts. We got the innuendo, but it came from, and went to, nowhere.
Song has a feel for choreography and a talent. Her group sequences are very good indeed: mesmeric, original in the movement she uses, and dynamic. How working that originality of movement into a much tighter framework, with a stronger narrative, would be an interesting development.
The highlight of the evening was undoubtedly the closing Interchange, written, choreographed, composed, and performed by Seirian Griffiths. Originally from Nottingham, Griffiths is now based in London and has extensive experience in multi-arts forms, having trained at Rambert, and danced with the likes of BalletBoyz and Punchdrunk, worked on prestigious productions such as Quadrophenia – A Mod Ballet, as well as teaching, composing and film work.
Interchange is a clever story. A sudden death puts the protagonist in a state of interchange between the life he had, and the next life to come. However, the twist is that this place thoroughly futuristic, Big Brother controlled place; an intriguing mix of Orwell meets Chiang.
Griffiths’ choreography combines pure dance with gymnastics and complex movement sequences, which are totally absorbing, and leave you wondering how he achieves the execution, which he does with grace, fluidity and tremendous technical skill. The piece was narrated to perfection by Sam Booth, whose inflection and voice tone never faltered, adding an eerie emptiness to the piece, when there was nothing to see, nowhere to go, no change of light intensity, just a voice and physical distortion as the move through one life to another took place.
The standing ovation was highly deserved. Griffiths will be premiering a new work for BalletBoyz later this year. That is something to look forward to.
Resolution 26 continues at The Place to February 25, 2026.