McNicol Ballet Collective: Here & Now – Royal Academy of Music, London

Choreographer and Director: Andrew McNicol

Marking the fifth anniversary of his company the McNicol Ballet Collective, Andrew McNicol presents Here & Now, a 90-minute celebration of past highlights and the presentation of a new piece, Liquid Life, staged at the Royal Academy of Music for just two performances. Working with dancers, including Winnie Dias, who have been with McNicol from the beginning – given prominence in this suite of performances – along with newcomers like Hamish Longley, McNicol’s choreographic and music choices reveal a company happily situated between classical and contemporary ballet.

The premiere piece, performed last, also airs a new composition by Jeremy Birchall especially commissioned for Liquid Life which melds those same classical notes, full of big strings, with more technological and digital sounds comprised of fuzzy radio vocals, beeps and clicks that give the choreographer scope to create a broad-ranging piece about human connection with its moments of isolation, togetherness and support that evolve across the 30-minute dance. Here, McNicol blends notable solos that allow Dias to emote while Longley is given a sprightly, more fluid piece. Even in the group work that draws on traditional steps, contemporary dance and hip-hop arm shaping, it is nice to see the two focus dancers smilingly acknowledge one another even when dancing with others.

The first half of Here & Now revives three earlier, much shorter dances, Bates Beats, Moonbend and Of Silence, each of which has its own distinct mood, colour palette and energy, showcasing the range with which McNicol has infused his work. The latter piece – again led by and built around Dias – uses choral piano music by Peteris Vasks from 2013 performed by the VOCES8 Choral Ensemble. Danced by Dias and James Stephen this is a soft contemporary dance described as a ‘meditation’ in which the female dancer is the centre point to which her partner and the expressive emotion respond.

This new performance of Bates Beats is given distinction by Louise Flanagan’s delightful electric blue costumes, a series of overlapping pas de deux that builds energy in its first segment with the dancers returning to expanded star shapes with splayed legs and arms. Its second section sees composer Mason Beats blend a thumping bass under a more classical score for which McNicol creates a series of responsive solos performed simultaneously as well as trios and full ensemble creations. Filled with sultry tones including a coquettish accent, this piece reflects that musical fusion that shapes the Collective’s dance choices.

Different again, Moonbend takes music by Perfume Genius to explore an 80s / disco sound, also highlighted in the costume palette of black and gold with sequins and reflective or shear fabrics. The choreography typically mixes ballet with freer pop and disco movements to create a piece that feels at once nostalgic and futuristic with an emotional balance between the freedom and collaboration of the party with experiences of isolation – a clutching moment repeated in Liquid Life as the protagonists in both pieces are choreographically connected by their temporary disconnections from their surroundings.

Despite a couple of stumbles at the Press Performance the pieces quickly regain their confidence to create a programme that enjoyably reflects the blurring of dance and music boundaries, ensuring that audiences have much to look forward from the plans for this anniversary year and beyond.

Reviewed on5 April 2025