PRISM

Sadler’s Wells East

★★★★★

“a true ensemble piece where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”

Mirrors reflect endlessly, but what hides behind all that light? Tentacle Tribe’s UK premiere of ‘PRISM’ explores the seen and unseen through a mesmerising melange of dance styles warped by a kaleidoscope of mirrors. It’s bold, beautiful and presented by Breakin’ Convention – miss it and you’ll miss out.

‘PRISM’ charts a hypnotically abstract journey through complex themes. From light and dark, distorted realities and the multiplicity of nature, each section pulses with its own energy yet together breathes as one.

Choreographed by Tentacle Tribe co-founders Emmanuelle Lê Phan and Elon Höglund, ‘PRISM’ draws from a wealth of dance vocabularies to create a unique fusion of hip hop, contemporary, breakdance, freestyle and even the raw rhythms of nature. The forms ripple and collide, with innovative use of space and levels. Gathered groupings, threading movements and intimate lifts create togetherness, while solos, duets and clever canons isolate the dancers. Humans and animals merge, the appearance of a sinuous octopus a particularly pleasing moment. Freestyle sections fire off impressively fast spins, kicks and flips, and a final introspective moment takes everything in – including the audience. Choreographic brilliance unleashed in full force.

What elevates it further is the exquisite integration with set (Charles Cormier and Rahime Gay-Labbé), a mirrored floor and walls multiplying and separating the dancers to spectacular effect. When the cast converges in mirrored corners, they suddenly appear infinite, amplifying their dazzling talent a hundredfold. When mirrored wall sections split and move, the cast is isolated, cast into darkness or sometimes suspended like jellyfish, released from gravity and seemingly time. Most impressively, mirrored panels can shift and tilt, bending space and distorting reflections even further. Suddenly, walls become floors and the seemingly impenetrable barrier reveals hidden passageways through which dancers can vanish and reemerge as they cross between shadow and light. The angles are changed to concentrate or disperse light, reveal or conceal. I’ve never seen such well-integrated choreography – the mirrors almost deserve a credit of their own.

Set to Elon Höglund’s original score, the soundscape pulses with abstract textures, spoken word surfacing just once. With nature sounds, mechanical samples, synth, reverse audio and thumping bass beats, the soundtrack is pleasingly layered and complex. Each section moves straight into the other, with only a couple of pauses, driving the dance towards a stirring climax before falling away again. To hear in the post-show talk that Höglund composed this, sometimes in real time alongside choreographing and dancing, is impressive to say the least.

Benoit Larivière’s architectural lighting is another precisely sculpted, fully integrated element, utilising technical prowess and the laws of physics to perfectly compliment the movement. Carefully placed spotlights pierce the darkness, focusing or diffusing light depending on the mirror arrangement, and the smoky auditorium evocatively tracks every beam. The boldly coloured costumes, representing the main colours of the rainbow, is a clever detail, making the prismatic spectrum tangible and solid.

The cast (Lê Phan, Höglund, Rahime Gay-Labbé, Céline Richard-Robichon, Mecdy Jean-Pierre) is spectacular, executing the innovative fusion of styles with grace and flair. Fluid one moment, staccato the next, each section appears effortless and seamless – a true ensemble piece where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

A triumph of artistic collaboration, ‘PRISM’ is a mesmerising fusion of form and feeling. This spectacular UK debut is a real treat for dance lovers and theatre goers alike – don’t miss your chance to catch this reflection of brilliance.

PRISM

Sadler’s Wells East

Reviewed on 8th October 2025

by Hannah Bothelton

Photography by Do Phan Hoi

Previously reviewed at Sadler’s Wells’ venues:

A DECADE IN MOTION | ★★★★★ | September 2025

SHAW VS CHEKHOV | ★★★ | August 2025

PEAKY BLINDERS: RAMBERT’S THE REDEMPTION OF THOMAS SHELBY | ★★★★ | August 2025

SINBAD THE SAILOR | ★★★★★ | July 2025

R.O.S.E. | ★★★★★ | July 2025

QUADROPHENIA, A MOD BALLET | ★★★★★ | June 2025

INSIDE GIOVANNI’S ROOM | ★★★★★ | June 2025

ALICE | ★★★★ | May 2025

BAT OUT OF HELL THE MUSICAL | ★★★★ | May 2025

SPECKY CLARK | ★★★ | May 2025

PRISM

★★★

“captures many moments where the sounds and movement line up meaningfully”

Because You Never Asked by We All Fall Down is a visually captivating piece set to the backdrop of a co-creator Roger White, and his grandmother, Marianna Clark about her experience as a Jewish girl living through the Nazi regime. The piece presents an urgent message against the oppression of migrants and persecuted minorities, and stirs images of hope, sorrow, and loss which catch the breath of its audience in one fell swoop.

The strongest element of Because You Never Asked is by far the endlessly impressive physical theatre of an impenetrable ensemble of four. Emilie de Vasconcelos-Taillefer, Marie Leveque, Max Ipadapixam, and Lina Nampts work seamlessly together to capture Marianna’s memories as the tide turned against Jewish people under the fascism. Each performer brought a different strength and idiosyncrasy to physical storytelling and impressively interprets Clark’s memories into fascinating and unravelling movement. Displaying feats of strength, balance, and control across the hour, the performers interpreted the words filtered through a soundscape into fast-paced but considered movement.

As with lots of movement theatre, there are admittedly some sequences which linger on repetitive movements for a touch too long. Because You Never Asked falls into a trap of opening with a slower burning sequence, which is eventually broken up by Leveque’s verbatim monologue which portrays a bittersweetness of time during and after the war. The soundscape, mostly, creates a pouring tension and glow amongst the raucous of frantic and mournful movement. It could be argued that the interviews could be brought out more clearly and more equal in volume to the music so an audience can follow Marianna’s anecdotes more solidly, rather than relying on snippets which are heard here or there.

Tiffanie Boffa’s lighting design creates atmospheric and chilling moments of clarity and ambiguity. One moment of three pairs of hands reaching into the light in the first half of the show plunged slowly into darkness, as one person is left apart from the group, gives a striking message against them and us rhetoric used to isolate marginalised groups. When moments like this come to fruition in the piece, it really works.

At points where the tight ensemble brings together overlapping of exerts and anecdotes, raising their voices and closing in on the audience, the piece feels on the cusp of raising hairs but is let down by carrying itself away. However, this is not to detract from the focused and laser-sharp gesture and facial expression of the ensemble when addressing the audience. Furthermore, the sequence using of raincoats as puppets creates appropriately chilling tableaux.

Because You Never Asked captures many moments where the sounds and movement line up meaningfully, giving way to considered messages about grief and loss which permeate narratives of displacement and oppression, which the team seek to highlight in relation to current global issues. The relationship between White and Clark and their intergenerational connection, is something that could be explored further throughout the performance and perhaps would bring home these issues more precisely.

Tag Archives: Do Phan Hoi

PRISM

★★★★★

Sadler’s Wells East

PRISM

Sadler’s Wells East

★★★★★

“a true ensemble piece where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”