Wall Review: A Riveting Exploration of Identity

There’s a brilliantly simple idea that fuels the National Youth Dance Company. An exceptional choreographer works with a group of talented young people, aged 16-24, during their school holidays over a year. The results are always fascinating.

Following in the footsteps of notable dance-makers like Wayne McGregor, Alesandra Seutin, and Russell Maliphant, this year’s guest artistic director is the Belfast-based Oona Doherty. The greatest tribute to “Wall” is that it feels too short. Just as it draws you deep into its intensely personal exploration of what it means to be British, it’s suddenly over.

The tone is set before any movement begins, through a score by Mark Leckey, Luca Truffarelli, and Shamos (Shane Connolly), inspired by Big Audio Dynamite’s track “Union, Jack.” As the 32 dancers (some of whom remain with the company for two years) sit in three groups on a dimly lit stage, quotations flash on the video screen above them: “All for One”; “You Men of Might”; “Your Country Needs You.”

Later, snippets of conversations with the performers and their families are quoted, building a mosaic from the 60s to the present. These vignettes are full of defining memories, reflecting how music punctuates our lives, finding joys amid the everyday. A Jamiroquai concert. A trip to see the Beatles.

The movement is similarly fragmented. Slo-mo detail builds to beautifully lit group tableaux or breaks into expressive solos, sometimes frantic, sometimes calm. At times, couples dance together, not quite in sync, each drawing out individuality within the group. In one extended passage, a line of dancers repeatedly fling themselves to the floor, moving forward from the back of the stage, only to crash down on their hands and scramble back to their feet. They then vary the movement in a chorus line of ragged breathing and precise determination. It’s vivid, powerful, and slightly obscure. An hour passes in what feels like a moment. Riveting.

“Wall” is touring at Bold Tendencies in London, Latitude festival in Suffolk, and Curve in Leicester until July 29.

Source: The Guardian