Dance: Defying gravity in the gloom

Botis Seva / Far From The Norm
Until We Sleep
choreographer-director Botis Seva
dancers Victoria Shulungu, Jordan Douglas, Larissa Koopman, Margaux Pourpoint, Rose Sall Sao, Naïma Souhaïr, Joshua Shanny Wynters
music Torben Sylvest
costumes Ryan Dawson-Laight • lighting Tom Visser
Sadler's Wells East, Stratford • 24-28.Jun.25 ★★★★

Choreographer Botis Seva and his Dagenham hip hop theatre company Far From The Norm bring this astonishing production to the stage in a way that creates a mesmerising dark cavern out of the deep rake at Sadler's Wells East. Because the set is drenched in smoke, the audience never quite gets a clear view of the seven dancers. And there's not even a curtain call. But the movement and staging are dazzlingly conceived and performed to create a powerfully involving look at mortality.

Because of the smoke, the lighting can quickly shift the stage from inky blackness into a shimmering glare. And a series of tall angled rods along the periphery look like a wall or bars around a cage until they begin to light up, shimmering on their own to add colours and create what appear to be doorways between dimensions. Most impressive, and impactful, is how the lights, music and movement are so precisely connected to hit the audience. Indeed, Torben Sylvest's soundscape-style score pulses with deep bass vibrations that literally rattle us to the core. The effect is almost overwhelming, a skilful display of stagecraft on every level. 

The dancers circle around the imposing figure of Victoria Shulungu, who takes the lead role as she faces a mysterious being who appears to be beckoning her from the afterlife. Her yearning desperation drives the narrative, pulling us into each encounter with the other gifted dancers. Sometimes these are tender and hopeful, and at other times menacing as elements of horror and violence heighten the tone. The performers expertly deploy bouncing, tightly contained movements that shift from individualistic to coordinated group expression.

This gravity-defying choreography continually takes us aback, evoking powerfully visceral emotions with military-style actions that explode into darkly unnerving moments such as an active-shooter incident. Each sequence carries a strong kick, including slow-motion walking that seems to be battling against the wind. Costumes have a post-apocalyptic feel, augmented by the way they remain hidden by the murkiness. It's the kind of show that holds us very tightly in its grip over the course of an hour, conveying feelings rather than openly stating ideas. And it leaves us reeling in all the right ways. 

For info, SADLER'S WELLS > 

photos by Tom Visser • 24.Jun.25

Dance/Film: Worlds collide

Motion Picture
New Collaborations in Dance and Film
Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler's Wells, London • 7.Jun.23

A world premiere event on a big screen, this special programme featured two short films made by a choreographer in partnership with a film director. It was a terrific evening attended by the filmmakers, including a number of cast and crew. The two shorts are evocative and inventive, experimentally using dance to tell a story. And they look glorious on the big screen. Each was accompanied by a behind-the-scenes doc, and the event concluded with a terrific Q&A and drinks reception. The films are now available on Sadler's Wells Digital Stage.

Inside the Blind Iris
dir Douglas Bernardt • choreo Botis Seva
with Botis Seva, Victoria Shulungu, Joshua Nash, Joshua Shanny-Wynter, Jordan Douglas, Hayleigh Sellors, Rory Clarke, Amanda Pefkou • 23/UK

Unfolding like a dream, this poetic piece features dancer-choreographer Botis Seva, waking up outside an imposing warehouse. Going inside, he is confronted by a range of intense memories and haunting figures that challenge him. The dancing has an edgy urgency that's fascinating, as performers occupy shapes and spaces with a range of attitudes. As if designed by Salvador Dali, there are puppetmasters pulling strings, eyeballs watching through doorways and enormous hands reaching out from the shadows. It's staggeringly visceral and visually punchy, shot in bold colours and grainy 16mm black and white, so it feels like a vintage experimental film. 

The engaging documentary short Beyond the Camera: Botis X Doug, directed by Sarah Vaughan-Jones, explores how Seva and Brazilian filmmaker Douglas Bernardt developed the project together over six months, then ambitiously shot it on location with their cast and crew. Their creative personalities come through strongly, as does the thrill they get working together.

Air de Temps
dir Ben Williams  • choreo Alesandra Seutin 
text Alesandra Seutin, Lisette Ma Neza, Assata Shakur
with Amy Collé Seck, Fatou Niang, Dieynaba Ndoye, Astou Diop, Ousmane Cissé Diané, Latif Arafan Wahab Diedhiou, Birame Faye, Amadou Diop, Cheikh Ibrahim Thiam, Gana Thioune • 23/Senegal

Shot in the coastal town of Bargny in Senegal, this short adapts a theatre piece by the same name, but places it into real-world locations. Because scenes are set in run-down warehouses, abandoned swimming pools, muddy streets or littered beaches, there's a proper sense that this community is feeling left behind. So the words and movement become a fierce expression of empowerment, people demanding that they aren't forgotten and reclaiming both the land and the history for future generations. This film is a powerful protest that comes from the heart and is witnessed in the determined faces of the dancers.

The process of making this film is described in the short doc Beyond the Camera: Alesandra X Ben, also directed by Sarah Vaughan-Jones. It traces how choreographer Alesandra Seutin and director Ben Williams team up to adapt the stage piece for the screen, adapting it into something new. Shot in just three long, hot days, the tenacity of the filmmakers and their cast is vivid.

After the screening, a Q&A was hosted by Digital Stage Director Bia Oliveira with Seva, Bernardt and Williams present, and Seutin on a video link from Senegal. Their good-natured banter revealed fascinating details about their working processes, including witty anecdotes and lots of well-deserved mutual praise.

Watch the films on SADLER'S WELLS DIGITAL STAGE >

7.Jun.23

Stage: The struggle is real

BLKDOG
dir Botis Seva
costumes Ryan Dawson-Laight
lighting Tom Visser
music Torben Lars Sylvest
with Jordan Douglas, Shangomola Edunjobi, Joshua Nash, Ezra Owen, Hayleigh Sellors, Victoria Shulungu, Naima Souhair
Sadler's Wells • 19-20.Nov.21

A staggeringly intense expression of emotions, this dance piece by Botis Seva leaves the audience both shaken and exhilarated. It unfolds as a carefully assembled explosion of movement, light and sound, reverberating with the helpless feeling that the world around us is a dangerous place. But it's also infused with the hopefulness that comes with love, acceptance and mutual support. It's a proper stunner that demands a lot of both the dancers and the audience.

Emerging from the darkness are seven performers with their heads covered in hoods. They often face upstage, so seem eerily anonymous as they move in ways that look physically taxing, precisely in tune with each other as the choreography cleverly uses echoing and mirroring to force the eye across the stage. Along with a churning score that features snippets of voices, the lighting is integral to this as well, isolating people, cutting them out of the group, using the inky blackness as effectively as a spotlight.

As the programme continues, events take place that are heart-stopping in the way they're performed, with the dancers spiralling into situations that are reminiscent of street protests, storming the capital and rioting in prison. There are also quiet moments of more positive interaction. And along the way, a series of chilling deaths are brilliantly performed in inevitable slow-motion. Seva's choreography is kinetic and razor sharp, constantly surprising in the way it pushes the dancers to their limits.

The movement is seriously impressive, simply because it's so complex and difficult, punctuated by the pulsing soundscape and light design. But it's the way the emotions churn up throughout the piece that pulls the audience in deeply. So as the dancers shed pieces of clothing, or emerge with props that are inventive and even witty, we become invested in a depiction of human resilience in times of violence, illness or domestic turmoil. So at the end, when they finally lose their hoods and reveal their faces, we see ourselves on stage with them.

Rehearsal photos by Camilla Greenwell • 19.Nov.21