“Sheer and captive physicality”
Deepstaria is a rare and mysterious type of deep-sea jellyfish. What makes it special is its transparent, thin, and sheet-like body, almost like a flowing plastic bag or a silk curtain drifting underwater. Their bodies are often so thin and see-through, almost invisible in the deep ocean, carrying a delicate and flexible physicality: floating with grace, pulsing gently, and drifting with the currents.
This is the title of Wayne McGregor’s latest choreographic work, Deepstaria. Returning to his comfort zone of sheer physicality based on a cast of nine exceptionally skilled
contemporary ballet dancers, McGregor’s ensemble brings this ethereal creature in front of our eyes. Like the mysterious jellyfish itself, their bodies also shift and shimmer, conjuring a physicality that feels half-ghostly, half-astronomical.
To mimic the jellyfish’s minimal bareness, the dancers wear only black underwear, and later exchanged for a flowing white dress (Ilaria Martello), so that you can see their forms so clearly. Compared to its everlasting soundscape, the choreography feels surprisingly tender, less masculine and sharp than in much of McGregor’s previous work. In duos and solos, limbs drift through the void, silently reaching into the ocean’s emptiness like whispers of silk. Their bodies are so fine, so sheer, yet they present the utmost fragility with a sense of endlessness. This is the genius of McGregor: using the dancers’ greatest strength and power to express the most delicate and ephemeral.
Recently, the Sadler’s Wells stage has been filled with rain. But unlike Pina Bausch’s
Vollmond, which pours real water onstage, McGregor opts for Theresa Baumgartner’s silky lighting to evoke underwater rainfall against Benjamin Males’s set, an absolute void of darkness. Rarely has the Sadler’s Wells stage felt so vast and so desolate. Meanwhile, the soundscape by Nicolas Becker and LEXX feels haunting and lurking, leaving you to wonder whether the best future of neoclassical composition might find its home in contemporary dance.
Another highlight is the dancers’ hand puppetry, using their barehand to represent the
creature’s floating gesture, like a wide, smooth bell that can open and close like a bag to trap its prey. Or, a number of dancers create a flurry of fingertips to ripple and filter the gravity of water. Different from Dimanche where the puppeteers remain unseen, the dancers’ body shapes are always clear in sight, but the vibe of fluidity is never diminished.
Deepstaria is a straightforward, elegant piece. It tellingly reminds us of the principle “simple is best”.