Scottish Ballet in Twice-Born bill
Scottish Ballet is back in London with their Twice-Born contemporary double bill…
Marge Hendrick in Dickson Mbi’s Twice-Born. © Andy Ross
Scottish Ballet
Dive (short film), Schachmatt (Checkmate), Twice-Born
★★★★✰
London, Sadler’s Wells
06 March 2025
scottishballet.co.uk
www.sadlerswells.com
Scottish Ballet is back in London for an all-too-brief visit, showcasing a very modern take on what a ballet company can be with two striking London premieres. It’s a busy time for the company, as next week they tour to New Zealand (with different repertoire) for two weeks, and next month they tour Scotland with their fabulous take on The Crucible. Don’t miss them.
Good to see the Wells packed for the Scottish visitors, but before the live dance we had an amuse-bouche in Sophie Laplane’s Dive — a short work created specifically for film. We are used to seeing plenty of dance video material these days, but I must say it’s very rare to see anything this polished and striking. Think pop video slickness in a work that mixes a blue and white monochrome world with the calm order of Schubert, the bossa nova, and endless surreal visual invention, all filmed in an empty swimming pool. Into the smooth order come clashing disturbances until the odd karma is restored. Strangely delightful, and as Laplane says, “It’s a multi-layered piece that provokes more questions than answers.” Not least the inclusion of an alpaca walking tall amongst the dancers…
Late last year, I reviewed Cayetano Soto’s gloriously ridiculous Schachmatt in Dunfermline, and rather than sell it short in just a brief sentence or two, I’m repeating here my fuller appreciation…
“Hard to think of a better (live) start to a night of ballet than Cayetano Soto‘s Schachmatt (Checkmate) - it’s a fast-paced and disarmingly humorous slice of bang-up-to-date dance and yet with its feet firmly planted in the theatre and TV of 60 years ago. Ten dancers (five of each sex), identically and oddly clad in riding helmets, shorts and long black socks, prance and shimmy in tight unison to an eclectic soundtrack that starts by conjuring images of groovy 1960s Go-Go dancers and dissolves into a bit of a ’walk on the wild side’. There’s a good dollop of exciting Bob Fosse physicality on display, but it’s all so deliciously camp and yet delivered with dead-pan reverence by the dancers. At 18 minutes, Schachmatt is perfect length, leaving you smilingly disorientated and wanting to see it immediately run again. It’s a great calling card for the company.”
The main feature of the night was Dickson Mbi’s Twice-Born — an ambitious 50-minute work that uses his dramatically charged hip-hop and contemporary dance style (plus a sprinkling of ballet steps) to tell a prehistoric tribal tale where women rule. The set is a monumental volcano that hovers over all and spews rocks that are often manhandled as part of the action. The tribe, identically dressed, pulsates with hunched energy, uplifting and paying obeisance to Marge Hendrick’s dominating matriarch in a thrillingly scary performance. There is no published synopsis (a mistake), and, in the gloomy prehistoric lighting, you might well miss some telling sacrificial or other action. But it’s mainly a work that invites you to soak up the atmosphere and go on your own journey. A lot of the atmosphere comes from the largely orchestral and choral soundtrack — well put together by Mbi himself (and neatly available on Spotify and Apple Music).
It’s tempting to say that Twice-Born is a latter-day Rite of Spring because it deals with pagan rituals, but it’s a different beast and musically much more 21st century and nuanced. However, it does feel well too long and in need of editing — despite the volcano, some sections are dramatically glacial. Here, Rite of Spring at 35 minutes is exemplary for concisely making its thrilling and moving points. But, but, but, do find your way through the Twice-Born longueurs, because the last 10 minutes or so fizz with pounding energy, culminating in a gorgeous coup de théâtre as the spirit of Rishan Benjamin, the new matriarch on the block, literally takes off. A compelling performance and quite exquisite in a night not short of striking images.