A romp into the sleek and sexy digital world at Sadler’s Wells East
As part of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival, Sadler’s Wells invites (LA)HORDE / Ballet National de Marseille to their newest venue in Stratford with a rip-roaring piece that feels straight out of Grand Theft Auto.
We open with a group of faceless banjee girls, decked out in matching velour trackies, dismounting each other from a remote-controlled car. Whenever successful they pose like a video vixen on their mighty steed before being decked by one of their dopplegängers — it’s a racy survival of the fittest. This explodes into a full on brawl. Think The Matrix sponsored by Juicy Couture. It’s this gabber-fuelled, youthful edginess that sets (LA)HORDE / Ballet National de Marseille apart, once a contemporary ballet troupe, now one of France’s most exciting theatrical outputs from its buzziest, and perhaps most gentrified, city.
After the melee, a video game character plummets from the heavens and explores the space, as if controlled by a player who is still getting a hang of the controls — the wall running is hilarious. Danced magnificently by Aya Sato, her vacant expression and detailed, uncanny movements recall the protagonists of early 3D titles like Lara Croft or Silent Hill. Joined by a slew of other avatars who, with their sprinting, punching, emotes, and waves, create a digital flash mob. It’s not all fun and games though, two of our dancing Sims begin to ponder the helpless scenario they’re in through the lyrics of Forever Young: ‘hoping for the best but expecting the worst, are you gonna drop the bomb or not?’. The violence isn’t all over, the cast proceed to abandon their ego-death panic and thrash each other about. Steering each other through groping mouths.
This theme of control permeates through Age of Content. Sometimes it’s fighting over a lowrider under the control of a stoic onlooker, in other moments it’s more raunchy. One sequence sees the gang discover carnal pleasure — ‘come’ a celestial voiceover repeatedly instructs them. In this age of AI generated pornography and face-swapping software one could certainly have a darker reading, but the impressive gyrations don’t feel damning of any societal ill. Rather it feels like yet another glossy facet of (LA)HORDE’s examination of power: dancers hump the floor like horny sex pests, find someone to wine on, and then wrench their partner off once they grow tired of it. I wondered how the intimacy coach must’ve had their work cut out for them. I later saw that, disappointingly, no intimacy coordination was credited in the programme. Institutions are ostensibly still struggling to keep with the times.
We end with a high-energy number performed to music from Philip Glass’s Koyaanisqatsi — a film which discusses the increasingly entwined nature of humanity and technology. What we get is Bacardi twerking, high kicks, and corny TikTok moves galore. All served with a smile. Satirisation is surely afoot, but it doesn’t feel as interesting or layered as any of the preceding tableaus. While entertaining and choreographically impressive, this final number is an exhilarating thematic flatline. Have the avatars discovered some sort of free will? Have they given in to their lack of control and are enjoying the ride? Or worse, is this meant to be some broadly sweeping allegory for a complicit society?
Despite the feeble metaphorical aspect of the show, it’s high on production values. In fact, the production values are the strongest aspect of the work: the set, lighting, sound design are all top notch. The dancers are remarkably adaptive whether in the pugnacious opening or the Parris Goebel cum Lucinda Childs finale. Is it style over substance? Perhaps. But (LA)HORDE / Ballet National de Marseille is undoubtedly one of the brashest things to come out of a European arts institution in a long time. With Age of Content, they’re bound to get some well deserved devotees.