FROM ENGLAND WITH LOVE at the Southbank Centre

★★★½

“the choreography excels – subtly, not in caricature, allowing the dancer’s skills to shine”

The latest work from Hofesh Schecter, From England with Love, is exactly what you might expect from the title. An exploration through dance of England; its long, storied history and how its people use or rebel against it in their search for meaning.

It is an odd quirk that ‘outsiders’ are often most incisive in understanding a place and its people. Schecter was born and grew up in Israel, but moved to the UK in 2002 and has been based here since – nearly half his life and the majority of his adult life. The potential insights this unique perspective could bring filled me with hope for a daring and soul searching performance; particularly on learning that the piece was first performed by Nederlands Dans Theatre 1 in the Hague barely a year after the UK left the EU. Could this be deeply political as well as beautiful?

For its UK premiere at the Southbank Centre, the piece is performed by new recruits to Schecter II, Hofesh Schecter Company’s paid professional development programme for 18-25 years this year drawn from the UK but also Italy, Belgium and even Iceland. As well as choreographing the piece, the multi-talented Schecter has also composed the score including works from English composers – Elgar, Tallis, Monk and Purcell (after whom one of the Southbank Centre rooms is named) – spliced with rock and electronic.

It’s a strong start, with the dancers inconspicuously dressed in school uniforms performing a ports de bras in unison. As the movements are so small and intentional, it’s the dancers faces you focus on – each telling a story of hope and anticipation that slowly turns to steel as if hardened by the world.

Rainfall interrupts the scene, and movements become bigger and more chaotic, with the group forming a swirling squall. Choral music begins, and we are transported to the playground where hops and skips abound. These early moments are impressive both for the quality of the movements and the way in which dancers use the space. Hofesh Schecter’s choreography draws your eye from one side of the stage to the other, following a dancer or two, before being captured by another and taken off again in another direction. Again the facial expressions set the dancers apart with Holly Brennan’s innocent school girl demeanour transformed to loud-mouthed lout particularly delightful. It’s lively staging and a luxuriant use of space enhanced by wonderful lighting by Tom Visser.

But the piece loses its way in the middle. A series of vignettes serving as clumsy exposition took it from subtle to stereotype. Can England really just be reduced to violence, yobs and hooliganism? Juxtaposed with cups of tea, the royal wave and a few feeble keepy-uppys (Come on En-ger-land)? The longer it went on the more meaningless these motifs became.

We end where we began, in form and in spirit. The dancers drift from side to side, unmoored and unburdened – directionless. Without the soundtrack of England’s illustrious history where will they go? It’s through exploration of themes in this way that the choreography excels – subtly, not in caricature, allowing the dancer’s skills to shine.

FROM ENGLAND WITH LOVE

★★★½

Southbank Centre

FROM ENGLAND WITH LOVE at the Southbank Centre

★★★½

“the choreography excels – subtly, not in caricature, allowing the dancer’s skills to shine”