Ballet national de Marseille: Roommates – Southbank Centre, London

Choreographers: Various

With Roommates, LA(HORDE) dance collective presents six short pieces, performed by members of the Ballet national de Marseille. The programme pays homage to the collective’s choreographic influences, showcasing a spectacular variety of styles. Whilst the pieces are adventurous to a point, exploring youth, protest, self-knowledge and sex, it is sometimes difficult to delve beneath their surfaces.

(LA)HORDE have directed the Ballet national de Marseille since 2019, and their creativity is clear; each piece in Roommates establishes a character and tone of its own. The standout is Les Indomptés (The Untamed), choreographed by Claude Brumachon and Benjamin Lamarche, which has an impressive worldwide performance record. Wim Mertens’ gorgeous, cinematic score swells to support the performers, who explore the togetherness and stresses of relationships. Jonathan Myhre Jorgensen and Titouan Crozier alternate between coordination and cooperation, moving through harshness and tenderness with supreme empathy.

Grime Ballet (Danser parce qu’on ne peut pas parler aux animaux/ Dancing because we can’t talk to animals) is another highlight. Cecilia Bengolea and François Chaignaud’s choreography marries balletic and contemporary movement with a score by Stitches; it’s a fun and punchy take on the gestures of the grime scene, which mimics the rhythms of club/gig culture by incorporating moments of silence and disconnect as well as ecstatic community.

Some other pieces feel overly issue-led. (LA)HORDE’s own choreographed pieces, Weather is Sweet and an excerpt from their Room with a View, are straightforward explorations of love and protest which are invigorating but lack nuance. Weather is Sweet, a romp through the heady, uncertain sex lives of young people, elicits suitable discomfort but stops short of twisting it to an emotional end. In the mythology-inspired Oiwa, the spectacular set does much of the heavy lifting, though there are a few heart-stopping moments in the choreography (by Peeping Tom). Lucinda Childs’ choreography for Concerto is strong but undermined by a small company of seven which diminishes the power of the staccato, symmetric ensemble piece.

The talent of the Ballet national de Marseille company is evident throughout. Jorgensen and Crozier are fantastic in Les Indomptés, and Sarah Abicht’s characterful, controlled performances stand out in Oiwa and Room with a View. Salomé Poloudenny’s futurist costume design for Room with a View is also visually stunning. Roommates embarks on a French tour after leaving the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall; though underdeveloped in some areas, it is compelling and creative.

Runs until 3 March 2024 and then tours