STORIES – THE TAP DANCE SENSATION at the Peacock Theatre
★★★★★
“the chemistry between the dancers is electrifying, the aftershocks of which crackle through our veins”
Writer, composer, director, choreographer and producer, Romain Rachline Borgeaud is the force behind RB Dance Company. Formed in 2018, the aim was to mix tap dancing with urban jazz, bringing the former to a ‘darker, more grounded, heavier place’. Borgeaud fell in love with Gene Kelly when he was a young child, citing him as the reason he started dancing. His passion for movement and music drove him to take the art form and fearlessly experiment, but at the same time paying tribute to traditional musical theatre. “Stories” was born, parts of its early inception making their way into the finals of France Has Got Talent (“La France a un Incroyable Talent”).
The mix of traditional tap with modern street jazz, urban music and rap has produced a simply stunning and sensational fusion. Thrown into the mix are production values that tip the scales. A synchronicity with lighting, sound, percussion and music stirs in its precision as well as its emotional punch. “STORIES – was born from a gathering – that of a pack driven by a persistent, vibrating, visceral need to move” writes Borgeaud in the slightly esoteric programme notes for the show. But while the performers are moving, we are motionless, rapt and frozen in our seats almost afraid to blink.
The show is not just a dance piece. Yet it isn’t musical theatre. It is cinematic in its scope but intimate in its language. The story follows Icarus – a young actor – under the oppressive control of his director. He’s desperate to escape, but unable to. There are obvious parallels with the Greek myth of Icarus, with the director being a Minos figure. The narrative follows an equally labyrinthian arc that is sometimes hard to unravel, but the beauty is that the interpretation belongs to us. There are references to Faust too, but also a strong link to the feelgood, golden age of the nineteen-fifties and the likes of ‘Guys and Dolls’. All coated with a fine glossy veneer of Film Noir.
It is all brilliantly told and despite being written, directed, choreographed and scored by the one man, there is a clear-cut collaborative feel. Loosely split into four segments: ‘Run’, ‘Stop’, ‘Fall’ and ‘Rise’, it is seamless throughout. Without pause, the coordination never misses a beat or steps out of line. Alex Hardellet’s lighting is an essential part of the choreography – the virtuosity of a concert pianist is required to operate the cues at the desk! Federica Mugnai’s constantly changing set designs are as intricately woven into the staging, at times flowing to the rhythm like big-budget CGI transitions. The trust between performers and creatives is an unbreakable bond. But moreover, the chemistry between the dancers is electrifying, the aftershocks of which crackle through our veins.
Tap dance as you have never seen before, brought high-kicking right into the twenty-first century. “Stories” is cross generational – modern but steeped in traditional virtuosity. It has its own vocabulary, yet there are no words. Instead, the emotional fragments of the story are swept up into a breathtaking music and dance spectacle. After seventy-five minutes we are quite breathless but would gladly continue watching for another seventy-five. Unmissable. In short, ‘incroyable’.
STORIES – THE TAP DANCE SENSATION at the Peacock Theatre
Reviewed on 23rd October 2024
by Jonathan Evans
Photography by Aline Gérard
Previously reviewed at Sadler’s Wells venues:
FRONTIERS: CHOREOGRAPHERS OF CANADA | ★★★★ | October 2024
TUTU | ★★★ | October 2024
CARMEN | ★★★★ | July 2024
THE OPERA LOCOS | ★★★★ | May 2024
ASSEMBLY HALL | ★★★★★ | March 2024
AUTOBIOGRAPHY (v95 and v96) | ★★★ | March 2024
NELKEN | ★★★★★ | February 2024
LOVETRAIN2020 | ★★★★ | November 2023
MALEVO | ★★★★ | October 2023
KYIV CITY BALLET – A TRIBUTE TO PEACE | ★★★½ | September 2023
Stories
Stories
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