Review: ZOONATION YOUTH COMPANY, Royal Ballet And Opera
The hip-hop dance company return with two inspiring works.
Zoo Nation Youth Company (ZYC) presents 1776 and Offline as part of the Next Generation Festival 2026. Offering contrasting pieces and styles, the young dancers raise the temperature after a London heatwave. ZYC celebrates the best young dancers and trains them weekly through a subsidised programme.
In 1776, the dancers from ZYC collaborate with performers from Lil Buck Foundation (Memphis) and Body Politic (Oxford), and are co-choreographed by Dannielle 'Rhimes' Lecointe, Charles 'Lil Buck' Riley, and Malachi Welch. The piece is a battle of wills about free speech through movement - tremors and pulses, battles and factions, freedom and control.
It's a piece of deep physicality where the guardians of the past - 1776, of course, referring to the year of American independence from Great Britain - try to stop diversity, discord and difference. The routines enhance the shared international language of hip-hop, in which we are invited to participate by making as much noise as we like. Being British: we don't, but we could.
The 14-strong ZYC company are Isobel Beney, Nathan Bucio, Kingsley Campbell-Golding, Lauren Crooks, Ines da Costa, Austyn Emmanuel, Tegan Ferguson, Cooper Filby, Justin Howell, Andrew Jackson, Tom Lutman, Sorayiah Morgan, Lila Myers and Thea Petrie. In 1776, they are joined by Lil Buck himself and his foundation dancers, Elise Landrum and Larray Walker Jr; and Body Politic's performers Lanabelle Arcilla, Alisa Arkharova, Kai-Daniel Augustin, Tristan Mission and Paris Rogers.
We see and hear a spoken introduction explaining the world in which this production sits. It might have been helpful for this projection of words to be continued at points where dialogue/narration needed to be heard through the piece, but the bulk of 1776 is in the movement between those in power and those under their control as things slowly start to shift.
There is a strong story here, and some impressive moves as bodies become as effective as bullets in winning this war of control. The three dressed in Founding Fathers costumes are clearly the keepers of an uneasy peace, where individuality is frowned upon - the simply-clad characters not in power are far less constrained as they challenge expectations of them.
In act two, Offline is choreographed by Lecointe for three main characters and a supporting cast who portray the natural elements like the wind and clouds, with costumes that reflect those differences. It is composed and sound-designed by Paul 'Steady' Steadman, incorporating original music recordings from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Here ZooNation's blend of dance styles, including a blend of popping, locking, krump, and Memphis Jookin', comes into play, as three young people trapped by their relationship with technology are forced to re-engage with the world as their devices fail and the internet disappears. In Offline, a different kind of freedom and control is being presented; one where putting away your phone, laptop or headphones leads to a healthier consumption of the outside world.
With the youngest member of ZYC just 10 years old, this is a showcase for dancers under 21 to engage with the music, dance styles, and personal attitudes that they enjoy the most - and for us as audiences to invest in their development. When 1776 tells us of the importance of freedom and being different, and Offline asks us "what if?", we go away with the questions in our hearts just as much as the satisfaction of seeing two shows well done.
ZooNation Youth Company is part of the Royal Ballet and Opera's Next Generation Festival, running until 4 July
Photo Credit: Courtesy of production
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