Review: ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET, BODY AND SOUL at Sadler's Wells

English National Ballet’s new Sadler’s Wells programme includes just two works. One, a UK premiere from the much admired Crystal Pite, responsible for Flight Pattern and Light of Passage. The other sees Director, Aaron S. Watkin take a bet on commissioning Kameron N. Saunders, best known for dancing on Taylor Swift’s Era’s Tour, to create a new piece for the company. The result, unfortunately, is a very mixed evening featuring what is broadly one hit and one miss, and just a general disappointment that ENB couldn’t be put to better use. 

Body and Soul (Part 1) is a mesmerising work with a strong aesthetic, it doesn’t scream and shout, the quality is simply always present. The piece seeks to explore “connectedness” and we are elegantly taken through the different interpretations of this via a series of vignettes interspersed with exciting rushes of the full corps. 

Danced for the most part to a spoken French text from Pite herself, the piece has a film noir feel. The monochrome cohort of 36 dancers moving as one with the soundtrack of repeated instructions, later with a little Chopin and music from Owen Belton. Tom Visser’s dramatic lighting also sets the mood.

What stands out is the seamless ebbing and flowing as duets drift between sections of glorious synchronised movement. It begins slowly, with small steps and pacing, “droite, gauche, droite, grauche” repeats the narrator. The first section, danced as a duet, is then repeated by the full group in tight unison. The energy of each duet then shifts to highlight a different form of connectedness. 

Ashley Coupal and Haruhi Otani share a great dynamic in their sparky duet. Spotlighted in just white shirts and trousers, any misstep would have been exposing but their synchronicity could not be bettered.

Ivana Bueno and Zai Calliste share a moving chemistry, demonstrating well channelled strength and softness. Neither holds back and Calliste, a newly graduated company member from ENB School, shows himself to be a very mature and able partner. Emma Hawes and Ken Suruhashi finish with the most impactful and emotional duet of all, as Hawes mourns over her partner’s lifeless body. 

Between these moments, there is some seamless Pite-style manoeuvring. The ensemble are divided into black and white and emulate the crash of waves, slick and stylish, before snaking across the stage, moving as one smooth unit. The dancers clearly take great pleasure in throwing themselves into the demanding physicality of it. 

Proper Conduct takes the audience on a three part journey, one that begins with freedom and wonder, and ends with the loss of identity in the world of Big Brother. Saunders has drawn on personal experiences for the work, since being catapulted into the public eye over recent years through his work with global stars, he wants to share a part of that. 

It starts well, and traditionalists will rejoice a little at the sight of the light, bright floral frocks (Kimie Nakano) and the picture postcard ballet scenes as the dancers glide across the stage, like something out of La La Land. The warm lighting (Joshie Harriete) and gentle assisted jetés feel like a balmy Summer’s day. The dancers have a moment to showcase themselves too, Rhys Antoni Yeomans and Swanice Luong look particularly carefree as they float through the steps. The new classical score from Brandon Finklea and Harold Walker III is a welcome addition too. 

“Wasn’t. That. Lovely?” declares Jose Maria Lorca Menchón’s Narrator, who we briefly saw before. He is dressed in a futuristic white suit and helmet, “his” voice is distorted like a sci-fi baddie. We’re on a one way path to the “rot” and the “decay” beneath the surface, he explains. Cue some sleazy, intimate scenes and the dancers very slowly shedding their florals to reveal flesh coloured bodysuits beneath. Intended to be sensual and erotic, but it doesn’t quite work amongst the dingy lighting and very slow moving choreography. Dancers wrap themselves against each other, mostly faced away from the stage. The message begins to fall apart.

Now we’ve been fully corrupted, the stage encloses around them, the walls a bright white. The group transform into what look like Stormtroopers, faceless behind masks. We lose any sense of who is who, which is likely the point but it’s not fun to watch. Choreographically too, there is not much to speak of. The earlier section utilised cliched romantic ballet poses but this last part could have demonstrated some originality. Saunders has such excellent tools in the form of these dancers at his disposal and this felt ultimately like a waste.

Proper Conduct is certainly a concept that could work. Indeed the synopsis caught my attention more than the vaguer description attached to the successful Pite piece. The company’s Sadler’s Wells bills are often such a treat, this is a company that can do Forsythe, Dawson, Balanchine and Akram Khan. In an exclusive evening of just two pieces, this needed more thought. 

Photo credit: ASH