MARKING TIME
Sadler’s Wells
★★★½
“performances that are as cerebral as they are visceral”
There is an ambiguity to the title of this Sadler’s Wells triple bill of dance performances, featuring three new commissions by choreographers Jules Cunningham, Michael Keegan-Dolan and Maud Le Pladec, all created in response to music by American contemporary composer and collaborator Nico Muhly. Marking five years since the original production was due to premiere on the Sadler’s Wells stage but was unfortunately cut short by the pandemic, Marking Time is a very apt and poignant title as it finally emerges after such a wait.
Muhly was born in 1981 in Vermont USA and is known for his distinctive style that blends classical minimalism (he was mentored by Philip Glass), classical modernism and indie pop. His music often combines lush harmonies, intricate rhythmic structures and a deep sense of lyricism, whilst being texturally rich and emotionally direct. Collaborations with leading composers of our time are quite rare so this premiere performance provides the perfect vehicle for the most natural of partners, music and dance.
As we enter the auditorium the set (Tim Spooner) is abstract and bare, the floor almost reminiscent of an ice rink. Six figures of differing ages (some on roller skates) wander and sit in small groups before trying to unravel a large ball of pink rope, then clumping it all together. Associate Artist Jules Cunningham is one of these six dancers and they present their new work SLANT to ‘Drones’ which is an experimental piece from Muhly’s repertoire reshaped for this triple bill and performed live by five members of the Britten Sinfonia. Their movement is minimal and precise, every shift of weight or glance feels deliberate and intimate. It’s less about spectacle and more about presence. This piece feels like a voice in contemporary dance that’s deeply rooted in technical training and in questions of identity, queerness and body politics. Their choreography invites closeness and this was particularly striking when Jules and Harry Alexander danced together.
Muhly’s ‘Drones’ pieces are quietly obsessive, hypnotic studies of repetition, space and tone, almost a kind of cosmic ecology. They revolve around the idea of a fixed drone note or chord, over which other instruments weave patterns that feel both ritualistic and intimate. This musical world aligns exquisitely with Jules Cunningham’s attention to stillness, breath and relational movement. Nothing dramatic ‘happens’ yet by the end, the audience senses time differently.
The second piece and the best of the three, is Maud Le Pladec’s stunning new work, Veins of Water, set to music from Muhly’s Drown and Diacritical Marks. Maud Le Pladec is one of France’s most compelling contemporary choreographers. Her work often weaves together live music, language and movement, creating performances that are as cerebral as they are visceral. As the name suggests, a diacritical mark is a small sign that changes the sound and meaning of a letter. In the same way, a gesture, a tilt or a breath, changes the meaning of a body. This is a trio for three women, (Siaska Chareyre, Alexandra Fribault and Loeka Willems) aquatic figures, part sirens, part waves, part wandering souls, between floating and sinking. It begins with the three dancers illuminated centre stage, their sequinned tops catching the light as they weave and undulate their upper bodies, yet they manage to dance nearly the whole time on demi-pointe. The sequence where they danced in absolute silence was spellbinding and at one point the excellent lighting (Eric Soyer) dramatically doubled the amount of dancers by creating their shadows on the grey backdrop. Le Pladec and Muhly together manage to create a work where sound becomes grammar, movement becomes an accent and dance and music merge like two currents. Very clever.
The final work immediately grabs our attention from the onset with a man in handcuffs, a noose around his neck standing on a stool centre stage, the curtain behind him half in light and half in shadow. Michael Keegan-Dolan is an acclaimed Irish choreographer, dancer and director, known for his emotionally charged and visually striking works that blend contemporary dance, traditional Irish culture, music and folklore. He has aptly set his choreography to ‘The Only Tune’, a song especially written by Muhly for American folk artist Sam Amidon (also from Vermont) who joins the company on stage to beautifully sing this ‘Murder Ballad’ accompanied by the Britten Sinfonia. Muhly’s work plays with the structure and psychology of this ballad, turning a simple folk narrative into something eerie, glitchy and modern. The costume design (Hyemi Shin) influenced by Dance Macabre, is all skeletons (apart from Amidon) and the opening was visually striking, dramatically bold and at times delightfully comical… all playing to Keegan-Dylan’s strengths. The darkly dramatic story begins to unfold, but sadly the music became so loud at one point that it overwhelmed Amidon and the all important lyrics and eventually the impact of the dancers. ‘The Only Tune’ held the promise of an other worldly, atmospheric piece, full of haunting theatricality. Although it started brilliantly, the end didn’t quite achieve this goal.
MARKING TIME
Sadler’s Wells
Reviewed on 20th November 2025
by Sarah Milton
Photography by Foteini Christofilopoulou
Recently reviewed at Sadler’s Wells’ venues:
MIMI’S SHEBEEN | ★★★★ | October 2025
THE MACHINE OF HORIZONTAL DREAMS | ★★★ | October 2025
PRISM | ★★★★★ | October 2025
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
