Conception and direction: Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer and Arthur Harel
Music: Pierre Aviat, and RONE
With Bring Your Own Rambert takes the opportunity to introduce UK audiences to the work of the European dance company (La) Horde – whose name means a large, gender-fluid and inclusive group or crowd. Of the three pieces in tonight’s show, two have previously been staged by (La)Horde in Europe, with the first piece, Hop(e)storm created for Rambert and in collaboration with its dancers.
Despite the youth of the dancers, there is a retrospective vibe to the first number. It certainly opens in an ominous manner with a tolling bell and rumbling background noise setting the scene for a confrontation between the dancers. Unlike the Sharks versus the Jets in West Side Story, the battle lines are drawn on gender, rather than racial, terms. Female dancers fling themselves across the stage, knocking down their male counterparts. Eventually, the male dancers learn to catch their opponents and force an uneasy truce, leading to the acceptance that it might be best to avoid conflict and just dance.
The title, Hop(e)storm, turns out to be a pun on the style of dance adopted – a retro Lindy Hop to the musical backing of Jailhouse Rock gradually moves towards contemporary rave culture. The performance, whilst meticulous, is ritualised and uniform as if those involved are cautious about dancing; possibly having been told it is fun but not being entirely convinced.
Caution does not feature in Weather Is Sweet in which the sexual nature of the LA club scene is celebrated in a graphic manner. There is no mistaking the erotic nature of the choreography with simulated masturbation and heads routinely thrust into crotches or balanced on a partner’s backside.
There is, however, an asexual sense of going through the motions, obeying the demands of a dominatrix but undertaking positions which have been adopted many times in the past. There is a sly humour with the dancers engaging in curiously exploring the elasticity of their partners’ bodies, seeing how far legs will spread or bodies bounce.
The idea of dance promoting youthful rebellion is suggested in the closing sequence Room With A View. A messiah figure steps out of a painfully slow-moving homogeneous group of people to demonstrate the joy of dancing, leading ultimately to the uniformity of the group breaking down into anarchy with individuals taunting the audience with jerking single-finger salutes and screamed insults.
The choreography is gleefully chaotic with groups forming human pyramids or dancers throwing partners around in an aggressive manner as if to demonstrate the danger, as well as the exhilaration, of unrestrained freedom. When the dancers return to the tight grouping, the slothful tone is replaced by a pulsing, vibrating mass that seems eager for confrontation.
At times, Bring Your Own displays a childlike urge to shock the audience with ‘graphic’ sexual display, but the overall tone is a celebration of the power of youth and of dance to challenge preconceptions and to entertain.
Runs until 18th September 2025
