✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Dance

Rambert, Eye Candy triple bill review ★★★★★

18 May 22 – 21 May 22, 19:30 Dur.: 1 hour 20 mins inc one interval and a short pause

Rambert’s Eye Candy triple bill is a fascinating combination of styles that shows the company at its exhilarating best

By Teresa Guerreiro on 19/5/2022

Max Day, Guillaume Queau, Jonathan Wade of Rambert in Alonzo King's following the subtle current upstream.  Photo: Camilla Greenwell
Max Day, Guillaume Queau, Jonathan Wade of Rambert in Alonzo King's following the subtle current upstream. Photo: Camilla Greenwell
Rambert, Eye Candy triple bill review 4 Rambert, Eye Candy triple bill review Teresa Guerreiro
Rambert wasn’t idle during lockdown, live-streaming a series of new dance pieces, but there’s nothing like live performance, and the company’s return to the stage at Sadler’s Wells with a triple bill of contrasting works has proved as exciting as we’d hoped.


Rambert’s dancers are on top form, their versatility amply demonstrated by a bill that ran the gamut from the purity of contemporary dance language in Alonzo King’s following the subtle current upstream (pictured top) through Ben Duke’s zany and punchy piece of dance theatre, Cerberus, to the van Opstal siblings' jerky, disturbing Eye Candy.


Eye Candy had its on-stage debut at Sadler’s Wells, adapted by its Dutch choreographers Imre van Opstal and Marne van Opstal from its lockdown live-stream.



Rambert dancers in Imre van Opstal and Marne van Opstal's Eye Candy. Photo: Camilla Greenwell
It’s an insistent, uncompromising examination of the body and how we judge human physicality in a vain search for unattainable beauty. The cast of eight are costumed in silicone suits designed to make them appear nude and almost unbearably vulnerable.


There’s no joy in the dancers’ jerky, anguished movements, no pleasure in how they paw each other. Moving to a harsh score by Amos Ben-Tal against a set made up of two dark and rugged rock walls, theirs are bodies mostly divorced from their human dimension, Fabiana Piccioli’s lighting accentuating their carnality.


Cerberus is typical Ben Duke. A very clever, mischievous maker of dance theatre, Ben Duke has a unique way of making the audience feel relaxed before moving in for the kill.



Rambert dancer Aishwarya Raut in Ben Duke's Cerberus. Photo: Camilla Greenwell
Named after the multi-headed dog of Greek myth that guarded the entrance to the underworld, Cerberus draws primarily from the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Life is the effortful progress from stage right (birth) to stage left (death) as enacted a woman (Aishwarya Raut) pulling against a rope tied around her waist.


In a comedic two-hander, one man (Antonello Singiradi) addresses us in Italian, with another providing a translation. The two try and fail to stop an endless procession of people entering the underworld. So far, so amusing. But at an imperceptible point the atmosphere changes, and Singiradi’s ever more frantic search for Aishwarya leads him into the underworld to bring her back, Orpheus-like.


The finale packs as powerful a punch as any piece of theatre can.


The veteran African-American choreographer Alonzo King believes that everything that exists in nature is seeking a return to its source. His 2000 piece, following the subtle current upstream is a deeply engaging work for 12 dancers, presented in a variety of groupings, solos and duets.


King’s choreographic vocabulary is that of contemporary dance, with movement that requires the harmonious unfolding of the whole body, from deep plié into developé or elastic arabesque. It shows bodies in constant flow at their most aesthetic.


It’s abstract dance but steeped in meaning, and the progression of the musical score towards two songs by the South African diva Miriam Makeba subtly underlines the yearning to return to source.


Throughout the pleasure of watching Rambert’s technically superb and versatile dancers never dimmed, and this triple bill seems to point the way to the company's future direction under Benoit Swan Pouffer.


Age Guidance: 15+



by Teresa Guerreiro

What Rambert, Eye Candy triple bill review
Where Sadler's Wells, Rosebery Avenue, London, EC1R 4TN | MAP
Nearest tube Angel (underground)
When 18 May 22 – 21 May 22, 19:30 Dur.: 1 hour 20 mins inc one interval and a short pause
Price £15-£45 (+booking fee)
Website Click here to book



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 3–5 February
Things to do in London this weekend: 3–5 February
Zadie Smith new novel, The Fraud, to be released in 2023, photo Justin Holler
An A to Z of trends for 2023
Helena Bonham Carter in Nolly, ITVX (Photo: ITV)
What to watch on TV this week
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

We recommend nearby

  • Sushi Tetsu

    Feast on top-notch sushi, sashimi and udon at the sophisticated Sushi Tetsu. This tiny shrine to the best of Japanese food has only half a dozen seats at the counter, so advanced booking is definitely necessary.

    Read more...
    Book Map

Rambert

Sadler's Wells

Eye Candy

Imre van Opstal

Marne van Opstal

Amos Ben Tal

Cerberus

Ben Duke

Alonzo King

following the subtle current upstream

You might like

  • Jan Martens, any attempt will end... © Phile Deprez

    Jan Martens, any attempt will end..., Sadler's Wells

  • L-E-V, Love Chapter 3 Photo: Stefan Dotter for Dior

    L-E-V, Love Chapter 3, Sadler's Wells

  • Donovan Reed in Requiem: Fire in the Air of the Earth. Photo: Peter Hönnemann

    A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Requiem: Fire in the Air of the Earth Review ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×