Review: MARKING TIME - NICO MUHLY, Sadler’s Wells

When a night is all about the music, and the music isn't for you, things aren't going to go smoothly. A case in point is Marking Time at Sadler’s Wells. The triple bill uses and celebrates the work of composer Nico Muhly, and features choreography by Jules Cunningham, Maud Le Pladec and Michael Keegan-Dolan.

I should explain. Muhly is a celebrated American composer, but the compositions that feature in Marking Time don't really work for dance. They lack phrasing and regularity. These are not prerequisites - but they can help no end.

SLANT by Jules Cunningham is an intergenerational piece that looks at identity and belonging, and features the expected authenticity where Cunningham is involved. That said, I found the work too on the minimal side and more heady than physical. Cunningham uses music visualisation well, and their dancers execute form with precision and compassion, but I missed the movement and choreographic rigour we've seen in previous works.

Veins of Water by Maud Le Pladec is a work for three, otherworldly aquatic creatures that is basically the antithesis of Cunningham’s work. It literally doesn't stop, so finds itself at the opposite end of the problematic spectrum: too much rapid, gestural movement ends up blurring into one perpetual mess. The dancers did well in relation to precision and energy levels, but after more than a handful of pelvic rolls I zoned out.

Closing the evening was Michael Keegan-Dolan’s The Only Tune. Muhly wrote the song for American folksinger Sam Amidon, who joins the company on stage for the work of “haunting theatricality”.

The lyrics tell the story of a family murder, but Keegan-Dolan didn't go there literally, rather ghouling the occasion up. The scene is set with Amidon standing on a stool with a noose just above his head, and he's soon joined by eight dancing ghouls and nine musician ones. 

The characterisation is on the absurd side, and the dance language is classic Keegan-Dolan; soft, slouchy, swinging folk - but way too much endless unison for me. Theatricality sure, choreographic structure no. Muhly’s orchestration of his own song was an earsore, so when Amidon sang the original just with a guitar relief was experienced instantaneously.

Marking Time was meant to happen in 2020 but a global pandemic got in the way. Five years later the three works feel either overcooked or underbaked. What had the components of being a very promising evening ended up feeling quite a big disappointment. Sad times.

Marking Time - Nico Muhly ran at Sadler’s Wells from 20-22 November 

Image credit: Foteini Christofilopoulou