NOBODADDY (TRÍD AN BPOLL GAN BUN) at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

★★★★

“Amongst all the chaos, there emerge moments of haunting beauty”

Making its London début after a premiere in Belfast earlier this year, acclaimed choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan’s and company Taeċ-Daṁsa’s Nobodaddy (subtitled in Irish as Tríd an bpoll gan bun – Through the bottomless pit) is a surreal, beautiful and kaleidoscopic work that fizzes with energy. Taking inspiration and its name from a deity created by William Blake, Keegan-Dolan makes inventive use of the company of nine dancers and seven musicians to produce a profoundly moving work.

The performance starts with a discussion in a hospital between two employees – dressed more like FBI agents than hospital porters – about a patient (Rachel Poirier) who, due to their lack of insurance, is lying helpless on the floor in the centre of the stage. In the face of the indifference of the hospital employees, the patient scrambles to her feet, dresses herself in a red and black suit, and white shirt, and begins the dance. Throughout the piece, Poirier is captivating, commanding the stage with acts of both tenderness and violence. She embodies a chaotic energy that forms one of the twin poles around which the performance rotates, the other being American folk singer and multi-instrumentalist Sam Amidon, whose calm presence marks him as one of the ‘peacemakers’ to whom Keegan-Dolan dedicates this work.

The choreography is innovative: employing a variety of items to create an ever-shifting stage set, including a step ladder and safety mat, a collection of folding chairs, plastic wrap, and a large, mobile box which dancers enter, hang from, and mount. Amongst this set the performers dance and play music, interacting with one another both as their movements respond to the music and more directly as dancers almost crash into musicians. Lighting designer Adam Silverman supports this setting with strobes and other interesting lighting techniques. The piece is contemporary in style and the grace and control with which the dancers move is magnificent, this is especially true of Amit Noy and Ryan O’Neil, who give excellent performances. Doey Lüthi’s costume design is effective: performers wear either red dress suits or grey suits, with Amidon marked out in a black suit. The oddness of the attire adds to the dreamlike atmosphere of the piece.

The music ranges from baroque-inflected classical string trios to euphoric acid techno, passing folk songs and Irish dances, and much is the original work of the Nobodaddy band. This variety in accompaniment is a strength of the piece and the presence of the musicians on stage adds further depth to an already complex performance. Especially commendable performers are the string trio (Alice Purton: cello; Mayah Kadish: violin; Flora Curzon: violin) and live electronic musician Jelle Roozenburg, who casts a comedically isolated figure that must be almost dragged into ensemble numbers.

Amongst all the chaos, there emerge moments of haunting beauty. For Nobodaddy, Amidon selected and arranged a collection of folk songs about death and migration, tracing the shared diasporic history of poverty and toil that binds the United States and Ireland. For all the dazzling brilliance of the choreography and staging, the moments in which the entire ensemble come together to sing these old songs, structured by repetition, and marked with longing and regret, are utterly sublime. The use of a bubble machine in one climatic choral number is surprisingly affecting, the bubbles evoking the transient beauty of human existence. In their sincerity, these moments are transcendental and capture the peace that can be found among discord.

NOBODADDY (TRÍD AN BPOLL GAN BUN) at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Reviewed on 27th November 2024

by Rob Tomlinson

Photography by Emilija Jefremova

Previously reviewed at Sadler’s Wells venues:

THE SNOWMAN | ★★★★ | November 2024

EXIT ABOVE | ★★★★ | November 2024

ΑΓΡΙΜΙ (FAUVE) | ★★★ | October 2024

STORIES – THE TAP DANCE SENSATION | ★★★★★ | October 2024

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

NOBODADDY

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★★★★

“When the show reaches its climax, the performers let it all out and enter a superbly choreographed frenzy”

For those knowledgeable in the dance scene, the name Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, who’s been choreographing since 1980, is more than familiar: it signifies a whole principle that explores dance in its simplest form, which is none other than walking. In this exquisite performance, De Keersmaeker’s company, Rosas, take it a step further and seek to redefine dance, its source and what instigates it.

At first, there is a recreation of the tempest, evoked resourcefully by using an enormous see-through sheet and a fan, and a dancer that moves like they’re caught in it. Before long, the rest of the company joins and embarks on this journey of walking, moving and dancing in any way imaginable. Patterns are repeated, new shapes introduced and there is an interesting balance between group sequences and individual ones, without ever losing the sense of the collective and the company working together.

One of the aspects of dance that the audience are invited to consider is what we can dance to. Is it strictly a very specific type of composed music or can it be more than that? ‘Exit Above’ shows that there is no such limit and if dance can be created from simply walking, then what accompanies movement can be anything we want: acoustic guitar, songs, complex instrumental beats, bird sounds, even silence.

This show is the musicians’ as much as it is the dancers’, with Meskerem Mees, Jean-Marie Aerts, Carlos Garbin providing their respective experience and style to create an intriguing set of music that incorporates electronic beats, vocals and blues. Mees and Garbin not only are performing the music live onstage, but also participate in most of the sequences alongside the rest of the performers, creating a living organism in front of our very eyes. Mees’ voice fills the theatre with an eerie and haunting tingle that accompanies Garbin’s exceptional playing beautifully.

There is no set, except for the instruments used by the musicians, the parts used to create the tempest in the beginning and a set of colourful stripes taped on the floor (scenography by Michel François). The stripes overlap, creating different shapes and angles, and match the performers’ outfits (costume design by Aouatif Boulaich), which keep changing and evolving, like the show itself does. It’s a visual feast of shirts added, skirts shared, tops removed, even thrown towards the audience.

In terms of lighting (light design by Max Adams), for the most part of the show it’s kept quite simple, with parts of the backstage being visible. A single, wide spotlight occasionally moves around the stage in a circle, accompanying the path paved by the dancers themselves, like a gravitational force.

When the show reaches its climax, the performers let it all out and enter a superbly choreographed frenzy, though, at times, it feels like chaos takes over and the inventiveness diminishes due to overused repetition.

Without a doubt, this is an extraordinary collaboration that gave birth to a piece unlike any other. Even if the lack of tangible meaning may trouble members of the audience that are unfamiliar with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s work, the show’s variety of pace, movement quality and tone, as well as its daring nature make it a must-see for all.

NOBODADDY (TRÍD AN BPOLL GAN BUN) at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

★★★★

“Amongst all the chaos, there emerge moments of haunting beauty”

NOBODADDY (TRÍD AN BPOLL GAN BUN) at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Reviewed on 27th November 2024

by Rob Tomlinson

Photography by Emilija Jefremova

Previously reviewed at Sadler’s Wells venues:

NOBODADDY

NOBODADDY

EXIT ABOVE at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

★★★★

“When the show reaches its climax, the performers let it all out and enter a superbly choreographed frenzy”

EXIT ABOVE at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Reviewed on 13th November 2024

by Stephanie Christodoulidou

Photography by Anne Van Aerschot

Previously reviewed at Sadler’s Wells venues:

EXIT ABOVE

EXIT ABOVE