Choreography: Emmanuelle Lê Phan & Elon Höglund
The curtain rises on a black stage, then shafts of white top light pour down onto five dancers on a mirrored dance floor, in the angle between two more mirrors, and we are off to the races. The five are wearing loose-fitting costumes in vibrant, jewel-like colours, and as they intertwine and writhe, the kaleidoscopic effect of the mirrors turns them into a multi-limbed sea creature, flashes of blues and reds searing out from the ensemble like the flash of a half-seen kingfisher. It is really, really beautiful. Immersive, spectacular, vivid, and a new experience.
Tentacle Tribe – the Montreal company led by Canada’s Emmanuelle Lê Phan and Sweden’s Elon Höglund, has its base firmly in street dance and hip-hop, and there is a very impressive section of this piece where the five dancers get to strut their stuff, body-popping and break dancing with abandon, but the fact that those dances take place in front of mirrors is incidental – the mirrors, the play of reflections, is the main attraction.
That they are good dancers is also a secondary factor. The most striking visuals are provided by the ensemble entwined in a corner, sticking out a variety of limbs, making fluid, fascinating shapes out of the reflected group. This is a dance piece that is almost entirely about throwing shapes.
The mirrors are split apart, set in different formations, used to create a variety of fractal shapes. The use of a single mirror with a dancer and their simple reflection is perhaps the least exciting picture, but overall, this is a spectacular visual feast.
The show is a triumph for the set design of Charles Cormier and Rahime Gay-Labbé, who presumably take credit for the sumptuous costumes, and for the supremely effective lighting design of Benoit Larivière, exclusively top light, almost entirely white light, and always stunning.
The choreographers Emmanuelle Lê Phan and Elon Höglund are also two of the five dancers, joined by Rahime Gay-Labbé, Céline Richard-Robichon, and Mecdy Jean-Pierre.
Runs until 11 October 2025
