The Talent, Sadler’s Wells, London

Balletboyz in ‘Void’

These are tremendous days for male dancing in London. On the ballet stage you can find exhilarating performances from Edward Watson, Steven McRae, Sergey Polunin, Vadim Muntagirov. Coming up at Sadler’s Wells you will encounter the imaginative force and virtuosity of street dance chaps in action. And, last week in Rosebery Avenue, the Balletboyz’ latest venture gripped our attention.

The Boyz (Michael Nunn and William Trevitt) are moving on in their grand scheme of popularising dance. So a company of nine young men, finely gifted, lend the ensemble its title of “The Talent”, and now represent the Boyz’ identity in performance.

Three creations offer a continuing flow of dance ideas that exploit and explore ideals of male dancing that Nunn and Trevitt admirably revealed in their decade of work together. The manner is reliant on boldly directed physical energy, on long phrases and swathes of dynamics as the men race and splendidly move, supporting each other, building structures of muscle and pose, a team as focused in ideals as any on the sporting field.

The extended version of Russell Maliphant’s Torsion, made for the Boyz, is now an ensemble work that resonates with images inspired by its electronic score from Richard English (monsoon rains burst over it) and by Michael Hulls’ stunning lighting which suggests drama in uncanny ways. Paul Roberts’ Alpha is emotionally frank in its response to songs by Keaton Henson, and boasts well-shaped dance, owing much to Maliphant’s skilled explorations of weight and momentum balanced, held, transferred and sent urgently onwards.

But it is Void, made by Jarek Cemerek to a boisterous and dramatic rock score, with spectral grey film projections of city streets and uncompromising lighting (by Andrew Ellis), that best tells of these dancers’ brave gifts.

Here are urban youths, betrayed by society, confused, violent. Here is dance that fixes their world and the identities that their world has forced on them. Marked by great slashes of energy, of physical assertions that define their very selves, by the micro-second timing and physical daring that shape the dance, these are our Montagues and Capulets, and vividly, tragically so. The piece is superbly danced, and unforgettable. Must see.

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