Review: ALEXANDER WHITLEY DANCE COMPANY - THE RITE OF SPRING / MIRROR, Sadler’s Wells East

What makes work interesting? What it is? How it makes you feel? That's the million dollar question I suppose…and one that Alexander Whitley's work continues to ask. Whitley has just opened a double bill of new work at Sadler’s Wells East called The Rite of Spring / Mirror, with both pieces looking at the human relationship with AI - or so we're told in the programme.

The experience is definitely more of a digital experience ( huge credit to Creative Technologist Luca Biada) than a conventional dance piece, but the above relationship between the two elements  isn't tangibly evident to me. Rather, one finds a connection to movement and digitisation through movement capture technology; human dancers move and the material is then relayed via visual, digital form onto the backscreen and front gauze.

Sometimes we see digital human form - a replica of the dancer in question or a generic stick figure. Other times we see iridescent masses, hundreds of beings and switching vistas. It all makes for interesting if overly busy viewing, as many times I caught myself thinking where shall I look? At the original movement execution or the consequent digital output?

The Mirror is a work for two inspired by the work of philosopher Shannon Vallor and set to riveting music by Galya Bisengalieva. Whitley offers sophisticated partnering work and articulate gesture throughout, yet I found the overall pace somewhat lacking. Even with the energised score the movement seemed to lack dynamic range. 

As the piece developed I began to wonder what came first; Whitley’s choreographic intention, or his digitisation agenda? I still haven't found the answers to my own questions. However what I did uncover is a digital anomaly - at least in my opinion.

I can often shy away from digital movement work as I find it lacks emotional integrity. And towards the beginning of Mirror I believed I was proved right. Dancer Gabriel Ciulli realised a stunning, momentary reach in a gesture phrase, which his digital form executed a second later. The latter did as it was told and delivered the pose, yet it lacked the human intention behind Ciulli's realisation, and this was immediately and abundantly evident. 

Yet some twenty minutes later my own theory was proved wrong. During a duo partnering section the female dancer wasn't digitally realised, so all we saw was Ciulli's digital doppelgänger showing the effect of partnering. The emotional intention was clearly there in digital form; the care of embracing arms, the consideration of one form supporting another. I hadn't expected that at all, and found it quite powerful in the moment.

Whitley is correct and brave to have a stab at The Rite of Spring, but it can be a poisoned chalice. When a work is so well known, both musically and choreographically (in a number of different versions) it can be difficult to make your own voice heard, and largely speaking Whitley didn't succeed for me.

However, what's evident is his keen understanding of the score and musicality, and both of these I appreciate. Elsewhere I found the language too similar in its spherical, martial arts style flavour and some of the dancers lacking in precision and power - when Stravinsky’s score demands it most.

In conclusion Whitley and his work can be described as interesting, even if the whole doesn't connect with you throughout. He's like the Christopher Nolan of the dance world; a hyper-intelligent individual creating on a different level. And one that isn't always understood but feels valuable and powerful nonetheless.

The Rite of Spring / Mirror continues at Sadler’s Wells East until 21 March