Review: BREAKING BACH, Marquee TV

It's an unlikely alliance – JS Bach, hip-hop, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and kids from Acland Burghley School in North London. But Olivier award-winning choreographer Kim Brandstrup deftly unites these disparate elements in invigorating and heart-warming Breaking Bach.

Released on Marquee TV, global streaming service for the arts, this well-crafted film by technical director Zen Grisdale of Brandstrup's live 50-minute performance from last summer's Edinburgh Festival is interwoven with words by dancers, orchestra members and Brandstrup himself. The film shot at Usher Hall is narrated by writer/actor Matthew Sweet.

The origins of the project came about in 2019 when the orchestra made a ground-breaking decision to permanently take up residency at the school. "The playground became our soundtrack," says Crispin Woodhead, the OAE's chief executive.

Such close proximity to street dancing kids at the Camden comprehensive and Brandstrup looking to combine Bach with hip-hop led to a new way to interpret late Baroque music. Some of the kids had never heard of Bach – described by them as "dad and lift music" – but they were soon won round.

Brandstrup says that the kids, who listen to music in eights and fours, had to find beats within the music with its multiple music lines. He adds that "they can move incredibly fast with athleticism and daring, and clock rhythm instantly".

Of the 13 dancers, it's admirable that seven are current or former members of the school. The other six are professionals, including excellent Tommy Franzen and Seirian Griffiths (both of whom also work as associate choreographers to Brandstrup).

With a pared down orchestra positioned just above the stage, there's terrific rapport between musicians and dancers. Frequently, a solo dancer will gesture to a solo musician and perform as if they're playing a duet, like captivating Franzen combining strength and subtlety in Cello Suite No 2 in D minor.

Brandstrup's brave enough to constantly subvert the narrative. For instance, in the Oboe Concerto in G Minor Adagio, a graceful Nafisah Baba lifts her male partner Griffiths to a superb oboe solo by Leo Duarte.

Brandstrup also draws on the orchestra's embedded status with the school, creating a delightful game of chase where dancers run away and then come together in the Brandenburg Concerto No 3 in G major.

Ellie Wintour's set design is a triumph with reflective floors and mirror backing fascia. She says she wanted to "amplify smaller frame dancers" and show the dancers rippling like the music "in duplicate and triplicate".

Brandstrup sums up the success of the unusual grouping of amateur kids learning from role models – the older professionals, as well as juxtaposing street and classical dance. "It doesn't matter if it is Bach or hip-hop," he says. The joy of Breaking Bach is seeing "how we understand each other through rhythm".

To watch Breaking Bach on Marquee TV, click here.