Choreographers: BLUE MAKWANA, Elisabeth Mulenga, Maiya Leeke and Roseann & Sula
For one night only, the stage belongs to the Sadler’s Well’s Young Associates, and the atmosphere is electric. Having been through the rigours of a bespoke two-and-a-half-year programme at Sadler’s Wells, this new generation of dance makers and choreographers are ready to declare their allegiance, express their artistry and stake their claim in the cut-throat, competitive world of contemporary dance.
Aged between 18 – 30 and some with d/deaf or disabilities, the works are individual, impressive, and inspiring. Spanning a range of dance styles from experimental to more classical, each choreographer brings their own energy and exuberance to the fore. Diverse and multicultural ensembles encompass an entire kaleidoscope of gender identity, ethnicity, body size and ability and offer a mirror to contemporary society, experiences, and concerns.
DUG MEAT by Roseann and Sula of Tough Boys opens the evening with a wild, sensory piece to express an ecological and political crisis. Two female, Scottish, South London-based co-creators of contemporary choreography, their work questions humanity’s doomed direction with a dark and dystopian dance. A fusion of punk and science fiction, a gender-fluid, queer collective of five surrounded by cameras on tripods seems to exist in a surveillance culture gone to pot.
Steve Ashmore, the on-stage musician, offers no gentle strumming on his guitar. Instead, he optimises every opportunity to make nerves jangle and teeth ache. Against an immersive and jarring soundscape, dancers crawl, slither, shudder, and jolt with movements that bring to mind zombies or the undead. There is a glimmer of hope as two individuals find each other in the chaos of a suffused red light before a wild and choreographed prog rock-inspired climax that makes Genesis P-Orridge sound like a bedtime lullaby.
Despair and hope also feature in the second piece entitled To Loss and Hope by Maiya Leeke, a Lancashire-born artist, classical flautist, and jazz saxophonist who, through her work, explores the “interweaving exchange between musicality, wheelchair function and artistic elegance”. Her piece, inspired by living with an illness that unexpectedly took from Leeke the parts she loved most, moves from beauty to brutality.
Against an amber-lit tower of lights, a single female performer, Emily Lue-Fong dances and twirls in wreathes of chiffon or organza, which is reminiscent of the Butterfly or Serpentine dances of the 1880s. The ethereal fabric almost becomes its own language as two more dancers join in the whirling display. Eventually discarded to reveal contemporary garments and an encroaching maelstrom of urban life, the movements are offset by composer Randolph Matthews’s evocative score and stunning lighting design by Amelia Hawkes. Annie Edwards, one of the dancers, is also a disability advocate with a rare growth condition, which means she stands just over three feet tall. Although she lives with pain every day, her inspirational performance has the energy and force of a torpedo.
To the peeling of church bells and muttering incantations, Christ Alone by Elisabeth Mulenga draws on her inspiration from a Christian Pentecostal upbringing. The winner of the 2022 BBC Dancer Choreographic Innovation Award, here she combines contemporary dance with influences from cinema and performance, with strong use of facial expression and repeated, ritualistic gestures. Drawn from social observation of those with “minds consumed by an obsessive relationship with God.” the dancers all play studied roles, some apparently on the edge of hysteria in this marked display of public ritual and buried truth. There is crazy kissing, crinolines, stilts, and a cello; Fellini meets Pina Bausch, but sometimes there is so much going on, it is impossible to know where to look or who to follow, so saturated is the stage with character and story.
Toasted by BLUE MAKWANA starts with the sound of swiping and texting; life in a digital culture never far away. Combining elements from popular culture and spoken word, Toasted is more narrative than abstract, with elements of the all-out showstopper performance. The all-female dancers, Charlotte Edmonds, Serena McCall, Tanisha Addicott, Tabitha O’Sullivan, Kibrea Carmichael and Honey Makwana, dressed in satin boxing shorts and vests, are ready for the fight of their lives. This is the closest to classical dance of the evening, a spectacle, a rich, powerful ensemble piece that depicts the strength of sisterhood working together.
As Sadler’s Wells seeks their next cohort of choreographers to work with for Spring 2025, It’s heartening to see this iconic centre of dance excellence incubating its own talent pool of directional, diverse voices. Some of the work is challenging to sit through, which is as it should be and not a tutu in sight.
Reviewed on 15 October 2024
