United Kingdom English Nationwide Ballet’s The Forsythe Programme: Dancers of English Nationwide Ballet. Sadler’s Wells, London, 10.4.2025. (JO’D)
Rearray (London Version 2025)
Choreography – William Forsythe
Costume design – Dorothee Merg
Music – David Morrow
Lighting design – Tanja Rühl
Dancers – Sangeun Lee, Henry Dowden, Rentaro Nakaaki
Herman Schmerman (Quintet)
Choreography and Costume design – William Forsythe
Music – Thom Willems
Lighting design – Tanja Rühl
Dancers – Aitor Arrieta, Alice Bellini, Ivana Bueno, Francesco Gabriele Frola, Swanice Luong
Playlist (EP)
Choreography and Costume design – William Forsythe
Music – Peven Everett, ABRA, Khalid, Barry White, Natalie Cole
Lighting design – Tanja Rühl
Dancers – Aitor Arrieta, Henry Dowden, Noam Durand, Shunhei Fuchiyama, Giorgio Garrett, Gareth Haw, Nathaniel Ritter-Magot, Ken Saruhashi, Thiago Silva, Eric Snyder, Erik Woolhouse, Rhys Antoni Yeomans, Junor Souza, Shiori Kase, Anri Segura, Emily Suzuki, Alice Bellini, Georgia Bould, Ivana Bueno, Swanice Luong, Valuable Adams, Haruhi Otani, Artists of the Compnay
Beginning with the muted colors and intimacy of Rearray (London Version 2025), ending with the brilliant blues and pinks of the large-scale, joyous Playlist (EP), English Nationwide Ballet’s The Forsythe Programme presents work by choreographer William Forsythe from three phases of his profession.
The unique Rearray was created for Sylvie Guillem and Nicolas Le Riche in 2011. Right here, it’s a work for 2 males and a girl; a piece through which nothing may be taken as a right. Not motion: it opens with the pointe-shoed feminine dancer, Sangeun Lee, in static profile on the stage. Not the recorded music by David Morrow: at occasions the dancers transfer to silence, or to the sound of their very own breath. Not lighting: there are moments when the stage is instantly plunged into darkness.
The costumes cowl the dancers’ legs and torsos, leaving solely their arms naked. The piece turns into a examine in higher limbs catching the sunshine as they sweep, bend and hyperlink in opposition to a black backdrop. The whipcord arms of Sangeun Lee swimsuit this choreography nicely. And when, in direction of the top, she rises on pointe, centre-stage, Henry Dowden and Rentaro Nakaaki sit both aspect of her: attendants whose arms transfer softly as if in silent homage.
The origins of Herman Schmerman (Quintet), the work that follows, return to 1992. The choreographer’s second fee for New York Metropolis Ballet, with circumstances that its 5 dancers put on leotard costumes and carry out on a naked stage. The leotards (calf-length physique fits for the 2 male dancers) are of what seems like orange-red velvet. In brighter mild, in opposition to a backdrop of pale blue, the dancers transfer with pace and power to Thom Willems’s digital rating. Decrease and higher limbs are each very a lot in play.
Balanchine is there within the flexed palms and ‘neo-classical’ steps. William Forsythe provides his personal overlapping configurations, his exits and entrances (the ‘Forsythe strut’), his elevated pace, his shock ending. On this opening night time, although, it appears there must be extra power, extra pace. Did one thing go improper firstly? Is that why somebody within the stalls set free a loud snigger? For no matter purpose, it isn’t till Aitor Arrieta performs his solo midway via (and maybe solely then), that the piece actually involves life.
The curtain went up on Playlist (EP) as folks had been nonetheless discovering their seats after the interval. This didn’t matter. A thrill ran via the cheering viewers on the sight of twelve, male, dancer-athletes, dancer-jocks, in pink and blue, ready to start their dance. This part of the piece was created on the boys of English Nationwide Ballet in 2018. It belongs to them. It belongs to Sadler’s Wells. ‘I’m a local ballet speaker,’ William Forsythe informed dance author Sarah Compton in an interview that yr. To Peven Everett’s Absolutely Shorty these males could hunker, like athletes, however additionally they execute shunt hops in arabesque.
In subsequent sections Playlist (EP) showcases the women and men of the corporate at their exuberant finest: Shiori Kase (holding a place for a second or two longer than you would possibly count on); Francesco Gabriele Frola (his pirouette); Ivana Bueno (discovering the ability and certainty that appeared to elude her within the second work of the night). However when everyone seems to be on stage within the penultimate part – males, ladies, principals, artists – there’s a sort of poignancy, too. Because the recording of Barry White’s Sha La La Means I Love You involves an finish, the dancers begin to stroll slowly on demi-pointe, arms en couronne. They’re nonetheless strolling, every on their very own trajectory, because the lights fade.
John O’Dwyer
Featured Picture: English Nationwide Ballet dancers performing William Forsythe’s Herman Schmerman © Pictures by ASH
