“You Are Welcome,” reads the sign, in bright red letters, above the door of the newly opened Sadler’s Wells East, on the fringes of the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, east London. Even on a rainy winter’s evening, that lighted sign fulfilled its promise.
Architectural practice O’Donnell + Tuomey have provided the redeveloped Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with a warm embrace of a red-brick structure; inside, an airy foyer with bright artwork and its own mini stage. Six dance studios upstairs provide equally generous and well-proportioned working spaces for professionals as well as students at Academy Breakin’ Convention and the Rose Choreographic School.
So far, so very good, though on a bitterly cold opening night, with an immersive show, it might have been an idea to offer a free cloakroom; you could sense the goodwill evaporating as people rummaged for their debit cards. It was best to check coats in because Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu’s Our Mighty Groove, first seen at the original Sadler’s Wells in Islington 12 years ago, had been expanded to show off the capabilities of 550-seat auditorium – and to get everyone dancing.
The show begins with the audience seated, as the Mighty Groove nightclub gets ready for business. Inspired by the choreographer’s own experience when clubbing in New York, the mood is friendly, as the harassed club owner (Dani Harris-Waters) gets his feet stuck on the drink-sticky floor, and the bouncer (expansively gifted Cache Thake) prepares to propose to his girl.
Warring divas, a shy first-timer and smart girl groups all turn up ready to party to a sensational, Ghanaian-flavoured score from Kweku Aacht and Warren “Flamin Beatz” Morgan-Humphreys. In a cast of 19, the professional dancers of Uchenna Dance, particularly Shanelle Clemenson, inevitably made more impact than the local dancers recruited to make up the numbers, but the whole thing had energy and style.
It felt slightly lost, though, on a stage the size of the one at Sadler’s Wells East (which replicates the dimensions of its sister venue). In the second half, when the seats were retracted and the audience walked through the nightclub entrance to do their own two-step as the action unfolded on surrounding raised platforms, the show took off. It was great fun.
Over at the other Sadler’s Wells, meanwhile, the mood was more rarefied as Lia Rodrigues’s Encantado, the final entrant in the new biennial Rose International Dance Prize, was unveiled. For a long time, its performers unroll colourful floor coverings in semi-darkness; then they crawl beneath them, naked. As the piece progresses, the dancers begin to move, wrapping the cloths around them in different configurations, becoming characters, animals, strange creatures. It had joyful moments but it was a long watch at 60 rigorous minutes.
This is dance at its more theoretical – not very accessible at all. The ultimate winner of this £40,000 prize was Larsen C, by Christos Papadopoulos. I saw it only on film (which is how it was chosen for the live final), where its detailed shapes and floating steps are beautiful in closeup. It looks amazing, but on stage, in crepuscular darkness, its slow-moving progress must have been challenging.
The contrast between Our Mighty Groove and Encantado bothered me. The danger of a dance prize modelled on the Turner and the Booker is that it will have the same divisive effect, creating a separation between “serious” work and more popular endeavours. Dance in all its variety has to welcome everyone.
Star ratings (out of five)
Our Mighty Groove ★★★
Encantado ★★★
