★★★

“a visually compelling and thematically ambitious work”

Descending from the auditorium stairs and stepping directly onto the stage of Sadler’s Wells East feels, aptly, like entering the machine of this piece’s title. Pepa Ubera’s The Machine of Horizontal Dreams, a 60-minute, interval-free meditation on technology, community and embodied experience, is one of the more experimental pieces in Sadler’s Wells East’s inaugural autumn season. The venue, the younger and more exploratory sibling to the Rosebery Avenue main stage, is intended as a space for learning as well as performance. Ubera’s piece fits that remit perfectly: grounded in intellectual concepts such as ecofeminist and post-humanist thought, striking in design, yet uneven in choreographic delivery.

Visually and sonically, The Machine of Horizontal Dreams is arresting. Collaborations with visual artist Joey Holder and video artist/VJ Bobby León yield a series of mesmerising projections. Images ripple across translucent gauze: animations reminiscent of Da Vinci’s sketches of flying machines brought to life, looping words like digital code, providing a somewhat oblique commentary on human and technological progress. These effects, coupled with Pierre Aviat’s cinematic electronic score and Joshie Harriette’s evocative lighting, build an atmosphere that hums with potential.

The narrated segments drive a sense of urgency in the piece. In one of the strongest sequences, performers describe their dreams aloud as others embody them. One dreamer recounts a floor that writhes beneath them, only to realise it is alive with snakes – brought vividly to life through the ensemble’s slithering bodies. Another section, titled Purging, sees a performer list everything they wish to expel from the world — “Sky News, fake news, genocidal politicians, my breasts, shame from my pelvis” — a torrent of personal and political frustration matched by escalating movement. Each attempt to break free is met with restraint from the others, a physical manifestation of societal pushback.

Yet, despite such flashes of potency, the piece struggles to sustain its momentum. Ubera’s movement language, often convulsive and improvisatory, feels lacklustre once the verbal scaffolding falls away. The work’s chapter structure (“Systems”, “Purging”, “Dreams”, “Reset”) promises a conceptual journey, but when the choreography is left to speak for itself, meaning dissipates. Too often the dancers’ convulsing bodies seem to convey little.

Surrounding the core quintet is an intergenerational, community ensemble of around twenty performers. Their presence provides warmth and grounding, especially in filmed interviews which capture what dance and belonging mean in later life. This texture embodies the inclusive ethos Sadler’s Wells East hopes to cultivate.

The final chapter transforms the stage into a makeshift dancefloor: Aviat’s score morphs into buoyant techno, the ensemble two-stepping in unison, beckoning the audience to join. It’s an exuberant, if somewhat literal, release — the “purge” made flesh through communal movement.

The Machine of Horizontal Dreams is a visually compelling and thematically ambitious work that glimmers with moments of genuine interest. But despite its impressive production values, it never quite coalesces into the lofty ambitions it aspires to.

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.

THE MACHINE OF HORIZONTAL DREAMS

Sadler’s Wells East

★★★

“a visually compelling and thematically ambitious work”

THE MACHINE OF HORIZONTAL DREAMS

Sadler’s Wells East

Reviewed on 16th October 2025

by Amber Woodward

Photography by Brotherton Lock

Previously reviewed at Sadler’s Wells’ venues:

THE MACHINE

THE MACHINE

THE MACHINE

PRISM

Sadler’s Wells East

★★★★★

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

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:

PRISM

PRISM

PRISM

JOIN US