The Rite of Spring / common ground[s] – Sadler’s Wells

Choreographers: Pina Bausch, Germaine Acogny and Malou Airaudo

A double bill of celebrated choreographers with dancers from 13 countries in Africa and a fascinating interval reset, the combination of Germaine Acogny and Malou Airaudo’s common ground[s] and Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring has an earth-based connection, two stories taking place across a single day in open landscapes where exchange and interactions are both supportive and dangerous. A mixed evening with a slow-powered first half, the arrival of this touring show at Sadler’s Wells will send you home fizzing with the excitement of Bausch’s dance.

Acogny and Malou Airaudo’s 40-minute opener is a cautious piece of different tones and paces that foregrounds two dancers, the choreographers themselves, exploring friendship, support and dramatic interaction during the course of a seemingly single day. It opens in shadowy orange light by Zeynep Kepekli with two figures silhouetted against the backdrop. The early part of new work common ground[s] separates and reunites the pair as they alternately hug one another, circle their arms or shuffle shoulder blades in subtle movement that barely registers as dance for some time.

Beyond this, the concept becomes more opaque as the performers continue their stage wanderings. Music is replaced by cicadas and bird call sounds; there is drama and intensity as they spend longer apart, but then they speak to one another, reaching back for ancestors in metal washing buckets. Acogny even cleans the floor for a while as she dances. What was an intimate insight into friendship becomes Waiting for Godot, the dancers sitting and watching like sentinels while the audience waits and waits and waits for meaning.

There is a 30-minute interval, but if you get extra drinks in advance so you can stay in your seat, you have the pleasure of watching an army of magnificent stage crew members reset the space for The Rite of Spring, involving taking up the existing floor, precisely nailing down a new one and covering that in giant bin loads of dirt to create Rolf Borzik’s set. The speed, precision and technical artistry of the technical crews often go unrecognised in dance but are a match for the skill of the dancers who come to banish thoughts of the partner number with a spectacular revival of Bausch’s 1970s choreography.

Set in an African community, this is dangerous and frantic from the start. Dancers move in waves, men and women divide into packs, swaying, begging and insisting as the inevitability that one of the youngsters will be chosen for sacrifice settles on the community. Bausch introduces the audience to the girls first, passing a piece of red cloth between them, all finding it alluring and alarming in equal measure as they all try to flee from an inevitable end.

This dance is filled with symbolism and ritual but also with scurried panic that affects both genders, and Bausch creates wonderful syncopations as the group circles and collapses together, separates into couples and becomes almost hysterical as the moment of selection draws near. In the centre of all of this, Bausch installs the calm leader, a still figure around which the other dancers swirl and crest. The danger of his presence is beautifully played, and when a candidate is finally chosen, she engages with the fear, rage and pain of her certain death.

The Rite of Spring is always an exciting piece to see, but this particular company has made Bausch’s work feel so vital it tears at life as the sacrificial woman refuses to go quietly.

Runs until 10 November 2024