FRONTIERS at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

★★★★

“an impressive showcase of talent, both established and on the up”

The National Ballet of Canada arrived at Sadler’s Wells this season for the first time in over a decade. Company Director Hope Muir leans into the national heritage with a programme of works by contemporary Canadian choreographers, playing to the crowd with choreographer du jour, and Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist, Crystal Pite topping off the bill.

The programme starts with its oldest work from 2013, Passion (header image – photo Bruce Zinger), by James Kudelka. Kudelka is a former Artistic Director of the company, although he created this work after his tenure, originally for Houston Ballet. It’s a wonderful place to start – directly exploring the evolution of the form from the romantic era of the 19th century through to the contemporary era of the 20th. Two duets intermittently draw attention. The first, a classical duet directly adhering to ballet’s 19th century heritage, full of arabesques, pirouettes and picture-perfect lifts that could be snapshots for a textbook. In contrast, we find a man and woman more passionately displaying their relationship – dressed in more simple, everyday costume more reminiscent of a Balanchine rehearsal studio image. The juxtaposition between romanticism and sensuality provides a rich seam for cultural criticism. But there is so much happening between the active corps, the romantic era principals and first soloist duets, and the contemporary duet that something’s got to give. Unfortunately, it’s often the poor corps, who are run ragged by Kudelka’s choreography, hardly leaving the stage or pausing from their jeté’s.

After the interval, are two pieces by female choreographers more alike to each other than to the first piece, though distinct in scale.

Islands (image above – photo Karolina Kuras), is a duet for two women by Emma Portner, a dancer-choreographer with a dauntingly impressive CV for being not-yet 30. Genevieve Penn-Nabity and Heather Ogden reappear fresh from leading the previous piece. Whilst not immediately clear from the off, the dancers are conjoined in a shared pair of trousers. This leads to some wonderful optical illusions, where it’s unclear who which limbs belong to. Disappointingly, the conceit does not continue throughout the whole piece. Whilst the movement of both dancers continues to be wedded to each other as the score moves from more electronic sounds to an almost choral pop piece by Lily Konigsberg, I cannot get past the pile of awkwardly abandoned trousers, symbolising an inspired idea only half-explored.

This notion is only solidified by experiencing Angels’ Atlas (image below – photo Karolina Kuras), a piece created for the company in 2020 by Crystal Pite. Pite is singular in her vision, uniquely exploring colossal concepts about the human condition, such as grief in Betroffenheit, the plight of refugees in Flight Pattern or, in this case, the infinite awesomeness of the cosmos in contrast with individual humanity. Angels Atlas fills the stage with the full company, a Pite signature technique, against a light shattered backdrop, designed by Jay Gower Taylor and Tom Visser, to give an ethereal quality, emphasised by the liturgical chorus. With a cast as large as this, potentially up to fifty dancers, much of the effect comes from the indistinguishability of individuals from the chorus of movement. That being said, Siphesihle November stands out as an utterly bewitching presence amongst the crowd. It’s subtle, but palpable, as if his every exhalation and extension lasts just a moment longer than his neighbours – feeling, rather than performing his role. This is the closest I have come to experiencing dance as hypnosis – the synchronised and canonical movements, combining with the lighting and sound inducing a trance-like state.

Frontiers: Choreographers of Canada achieves what it likely set out to do – return to London with an impressive showcase of talent, both established and on the up, on and behind the stage. Kudelka and Portner’s pieces are enjoyable thematic explorations, but really it’s all about Pite – who never misses.

FRONTIERS at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Reviewed on 2nd October

by Amber Woodward

Photography by Bruce Zinger and Karolina Kuras

Previously reviewed at this venue:

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

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER AT 65 | ★★★★★ | September 2023

FRONTIERS

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★★★★

“a spectacular fusion of the traditional and modern, of classical opera and Cuban flavour”

Carlos Acosta’s Carmen is the choreographer and dance legend’s second adaption of Bizet’s classic opera, following a one-act production in 2015, and it sparkles with life, featuring the original music and additional compositions by Martin Yates, Yhovani Duarte and Denis Paralta. The Acosta Danza company, formed by Acosta to highlight the dancers of his native Cuba, deliver a spellbinding and tightly choreographed performance, led by the spectacular and emotive dancing of twin leads, Laura Rodríguez as the coquettish Carmen and Alejandro Silva as Don José, a soldier who falls madly in love with her.

The piece opens with a still scene, a man is crouched weeping over the body of a woman; other people stand around in shock, including the resplendently dressed Escamillo, a matador. From the large circular opening at the back of the stage, its circumference illuminated in orange and the centre a dusky blue, enters Acosta as the Bull – a character added by the choreographer that symbolises fate. In silence, the Bull drags Carmen and José to the front of the stage, stands them up, and places them into the positions that led to the death: José stabbing Carmen in a fit of jealousy over her relationship with Escamillo. This action will be repeated three times throughout the performance, emphasising the predestined nature of the event. In this way, the choreographer and company leader takes the role of on-stage director, reminiscent of the many hours of practice behind the final work.

The choreography throughout is elegant and the interplay between Carmen and José is wonderful. Scenes of flirtation, rage, entrapment and hesitancy are all vividly enacted as Rodríguez alternately draws in and repels Silva, the latter’s frustration becoming ever more pronounced until the piece’s climatic act of violence that brings us back to striking opening tableau. The contrast between this tumultuous entanglement and the simplicity of Carmen’s relationship with the matador is clearly evoked in both choreography and Tim Hartley’s staging. Gone is the dynamic between an aloof Carmen and beseeching José and gone is the comparatively elaborate set of José’s ornately designed bedroom. Carmen and the torero, performed by Enrique Corrales, dance together passionately, giving themselves to one another in a set devoid of other distractions, the unadorned nature of the scene reflective of their uncomplicated mutual desire.

Throughout, the staging is effective. The aforementioned circular opening evoking the burning Andalusian sun of the piece’s setting, with different projections within it, such as olive trees, adding further detail. A simple cage of bars stands in for a prison, and a set of tables and chairs with projected barrels behind becomes a bar. Working within this space, the dance corps are excellent. The flamenco influenced variation that opens the second act with an explosion is especially riotous and exuberant, exhibiting the skill of all the members of the group, with Zeleidy Crespo distinguishing herself.

This production of Carmen is a spectacular fusion of the traditional and modern, of classical opera and Cuban flavour and is a stunning showcase for the versatile Danza Acosta dance corps.

FRONTIERS at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

★★★★

“an impressive showcase of talent, both established and on the up”

FRONTIERS at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Reviewed on 2nd October

by Amber Woodward

Photography by Bruce Zinger and Karolina Kuras

Previously reviewed at this venue:

FRONTIERS

FRONTIERS

CARLOS ACOSTA’S CARMEN at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

★★★★

“a spectacular fusion of the traditional and modern, of classical opera and Cuban flavour”

CARLOS ACOSTA’S CARMEN at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Reviewed on 2nd July 2024

by Rob Tomlinson

Photography by Cristina Lanandez

Previously reviewed at Sadler’s Wells venues:

CARLOS

CARLOS