D.A.N.C.E., McGregor/Flamand/Forsythe, Sadler's Wells

You can hardly blame a group of graduating performers between the ages of 18 to 22 for looking young. But at Sadler’s Wells last Saturday night, members of the audience were overhead grumbling that while the group, D.AN.C.E, (Dance Apprentice Network aCross Europe) were doing extraordinary things with their bodies, faces looked "too innocent" to be taken seriously.

Perhaps they should have thought about that before booking tickets to see a graduate show.

Innocent faces aside, it was apparent that here was a group with such raw, gutsy talent, whirlwind energy literally flew off the stage and into the audiences’ laps as soon as curtain up.

The crème de la crème of aspiring dancers, this troupe were handpicked from both classical and contemporary schools across Europe to work with some of the most prestigious choreographers of the day. After two years of being polished, refined and primed to perform, the group tackles a triple bill with two new works created as part of collaboration between dancer and choreographer.

The first piece, Wayne McGregor’s [memeri], a stark muse on memory, opens with an arresting solo. A tall, long-limbed dancer, clearly ballet trained in his execution, fills the stage with a series of staccato movements, where jerky isolations, a hunched shoulder or dramatic crouching movement, mirror the repetitive electrical impulses of the music. He is followed by duets that continue to fill the stage with patterns built by crab-like isolations and arched backs, thrusting toward and away from each couple in time to the machine-like soundtrack.

Four fluorescent tubes that form a large square mark out the territory for performance and dancers wait silently still outside of the square before being called upon for action. Most memorable is the sequence where all the dancers appear within this fluorescent centre piece. Out of the darkness, the lights are switched on and the entire cast wave their arm and limbs around frantically like a series of electric shocks weaving in and out of time to the monotonous beat. The wiggling and jerking brought to mind naked electrical wires flapping loose in the wind on the side of some derelict war-torn building.

Next up was A Success Story, Frederick Flamand’s tribute to the super-billionaire eccentric, Howard Hughes. Assured fluid movements from both the troupe and the Ballet de Marseille, who dip in and out of the sets reproducing the images projected onscreen paying homage to the highly inventive stage design. Flamand employs multi-media layers from mirrors to split screens featuring old movie footage- aviation scenes or superb synchronised swimming scenes to create a dream-like, visual feast of a set.

The only drawback with such elaborate stagecraft is that in many sequences the busy sets, especially the scene where strobe lights shine into the audience, leaving us momentarily blinded, distract from the dancers.

William Forsythe’s One Flat Thing Reproduced, was the only work not created for the students, yet managed to stay as fresh and brilliant in its disciplined inventiveness. The dancers handled the choreography with ease maturity beyond their years, despite fresh faces.

*** ‘And the dancers? Better at some things than others. They thrilled to the technical demands of Forsythe and McGregor, but showed dramatic and psychological uncertainty with Flamand.’

**  ‘The dancers look fine, but the programme's first British performance was knocked flat by its choice of repertory.’

 

*** ‘The apprentice cast perform heroically, and any company would be glad to hire them.’