Le Bal de Paris – Barbican, London

Choreographer and Director: Blanca Li

Perhaps the most exciting thing about this VR experience playing at the Barbican is choosing which outfit to wear. All the eveningwear has been designed by Chanel, and each lavish dress and natty suit comes with its own animal head. Turning to look in the mirror is so surprising and satisfying that you want to try on every costume available. It’s true what they say: the best part of going out is getting ready.

The last time choreographer Blanca Li was at the Barbican she brought robots to the stage. Le Bal de Paris is just as radical, blending dance and virtual reality to create a France that Walt Disney would be proud of. However, the VR is so spectacular that, at times, the real life dance created by two performers that spin and jeté around the 10-strong audience is unnecessary. Instead of watching the dancers, the audience members often turn their backs to look at the detailed worlds opening up around them.

And there is much to see: an enormous ballroom packed to the gills with waltzing dancers, a beautiful formal garden with a dizzying privet maze and a Parisian nightclub with sexy can-can dancers. This incredible, breath-taking universe is designed by Vincent Chazal, and if you like Disney animation then this show is for you. It also features songs – lively and inoffensive – that would fit right into Frozen, or Coco. But for non-Disney aficionados the landscapes and the music may be a little too twee.

To help things along there’s a slim narrative about a woman called Adele, but it’s hard to focus on her love triangle when there’s so much to see and marvel at. Lifts and boats take the audience to new scenes, and yet we remain in one small room. Only occasionally, when we hear the claps and cheers coming from one of the other two rooms, each with its own 10 audience members. is the illusion shattered.

The VR experience lasts about 35 minutes, which seems about right, especially as the story is so inconsequential. After you’ve put away your headset and jetpack, you can join a dance lesson recreating one of the routines you’ve just witnessed, but there’s a nagging feeling that this lesson could have come before, to allow us to dance within the VR experience.

The technology is impressive and while it’s more immersive that other VR experiences it lacks an engaging narrative. In The War of the Worlds headsets are only required for some of the adventure, but the story is always focal. In Bal de Paris, it’s all spectacle and despite the committed dancing of the performers all we can do is stand and stare in wonder.

Runs until 28 May 2022