Russell Maliphant & Vangelis, The Thread, Sadler's Wells Preview

Russell Maliphant is one of the most involving choreographers working today. His work is never rushed, seamlessly lingering on bodies in movement, blending elements from contemporary dance, martial arts and capoeira. The Telegraph described him as ‘a supreme melodist of the body.’

Everybody who’s somebody in dance has clamoured to work with him, and over a long career (he is now in his late 50s) he has created work for the likes of Sylvie Guillem, BalletBoyz, and English National Ballet, as well as for his own Russell Maliphant Company.

Vangelis’s grandiose electronic music is well-known internationally; among his many accolades is the 1982 Oscar for Best Original Score for the film Chariots of Fire. Vangelis’ scores have been found particularly appropriate in the context of space exploration: in 2001 NASA chose his Mythodea as the official music for its mission to Mars.

Now, though, Vangelis is going not forward into space, but back to ancient Greece to explore the Minotaur myth in collaboration with Russell Maliphant. The myth tells of the ferocious part-bull part-man monster kept in a Cretan labyrinth. The Minotaur was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus, who found his way out of the labyrinth with the help of a threat laid by Ariadne.

Appropriately named The Thread, the new work features choreography inspired by historic Hellenic dances, and explores the changing forms of traditional and contemporary dance.

Lighting design comes from Russell Maliphant’s regular collaborator, Michael Hulls, an exceptional artist in whose work ‘the architecture of the space is always changing, opening up or closing down. It's like breathing,’ to use Maliphant’s own words.

As part of a strongly Greek creative contingent, the concept and dramaturgy for The Thread come from Georgia Iliopoulou, and the costumes are designed by the London-based Greek fashion designer Mary Katrantzou.

Given the illustrious record of its collaborators, The Thread is likely to prove a very special work indeed.