Choreographer: (LA)HORDE
What a mash-up: what a colab! In a brilliant entente cordiale, the British Rambert company dances to the steps of Marseille’s exciting (LA) HORDE, and the result is electric. (LA) HORDE couldn’t do better, surely?
Rambert Dance Company started in 1926; (LA) HORDE, created by Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer and Arthur Harel, was only established as recently as 2013. Of course, Rambert has moved on from dancing only ballet, but any 20th-century fustiness is clearly blown away by taking on the energetic and maverick choreography of the French company. One piece is astoundingly and breathtakingly good.
But first come two other short dances, the first commissioned exclusively for Rambert. Hop(e)storm is an update of the Lindy Hop. There may be sonic echoes of Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock, but they soon give way to an insistent techno beat that brings the 1920s dance right up to the present day. As the dancers face each other at the start, the scene is reminiscent of Sydney Pollack’s iconic film, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, set in America’s Great Depression. Here, at the Southbank Centre, the female dancers hurl themselves at their partners, their wild embraces soon transforming into the aerials where the women swing across the men’s backs and waists.
With serious faces and a bare stage, Hop(e)storm is a cold, thrilling dance, very much like the film. However, it ends on a touch of romance with Hannah Hernandez and Dylan Tedaldi holding each other on the empty dancefloor. The couple begin the next dance, Weather Is Sweet, where their love affair seems in danger of becoming pornographic. Hernandez and Tedaldi are soon joined by the other ten dancers to perform a frenzy of twerking. The coordinated thrusts are initially sexy, but their very repetition makes the once-erotic move empty and pointless. While mainly sex-positive, it’s also uncomfortable in places, as not all of the simulated sex appears consensual.
The last dance, an extract from Room with a View, is less interested in social issues; rather, it’s a celebration of community. If at first that community appears to be a drunk and rowdy football mob floating around the stage in slo-mo, then, by the end, the dancers form the shape of a heart where their moves are fast and precise. The energy of the piece is electric, with all the dancers performing acrobatic flips and lifts that put one in mind of the sport Cheer rather than contemporary dance.
With so much happening on the stage, it’s occasionally difficult to know where to look, but Cali Hollister, Hua Han, Naya Lovell and Hernandez are particularly compelling. However, each night boasts a different selection of dancers from the pool, so every performance will be slightly different.
RONE’s music ends on a classical note, even anthemic in some respects. While the beat may have disappeared, it continues in the clapping of the dancers, and when that ends, it persists as they slap themselves on the chest with red marks instantly appearing. It would be a shame to reveal the way that the melody finally vanishes, but it’s an ending full of redemption and hope.
Runs until 10 May 2025
The Reviews Hub Score
Bonjour Rambert
