BalletBoyz at 25 – Still Pointless (Feature)
Still Pointless traces BalletBoyz’s remarkable journey over the past 25 years, Michael Nunn and William Trevitt told me
This article was first published on London Unattached
In the event you haven’t heard of BalletBoyz (unlikely, I know, but just to be on the safe side) I’ll let one of the company founders, Michael Nunn, do the introductions:
“A high quality dance company that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but takes the art seriously. And I think we try and package our performances so that there’s something for everybody, and that will make you laugh, make you think, and will create some sort of emotional response. Primarily it’s about entertaining people. We’re not there to teach them a lesson or give them any medicine, maybe just keep edging things forward.
“I’ve always thought if we have a casual, fun approach to what we do, we can sell more difficult work because we’re including, we’re taking people on that journey.”
That journey started a quarter of a century ago, though it feels like only yesterday that two former Royal Ballet dancers, Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, said goodbye to Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and the like, and set off on a radical change of course. Pointless, their very first show at London’s Roundhouse in 2001, was a clear statement of intent, but it was more than that, too.
Pointless by name – a playful reference to the pointe shoes we associate with ballet – but certainly not by nature: Nunn and Trevitt brought their impeccable Royal Ballet training and preternatural mutual connection to bear on the unique movement language of Russell Maliphant’s Critical Mass, with its grounded push and pull see-saw, fluid transfers of weight, bodies alternately cooperating and competing. They did it in such perfect synchrony, they left me breathless.
There was clearly a point to it: it was something genuinely new and thrilling, which appeared to open endless possibilities for dance in the 21st century.
BalletBoyz 25 Years Later
The past 25 years have more than fulfilled the initial promise, not only with always new and enticing live dance performances by carefully chosen cohorts of 10 to 15 male dancers, but also with an increasingly prominent sideline in film-making, which offered different insights into dance itself.
So, a birthday bash is definitely in order. It’ll take the shape of a wide-ranging UK tour, starting at Sadler’s Wells in mid-May. To find out more I’ve been speaking to Michael Nunn and William Trevitt at their Kingston-upon-Thames base.
It’s taken a while for BalletBoyz to return from the ravages of Covid and its attendant lockdowns; the company went a little off-piste three years ago, with England on Fire, an ambitious, large-scale but short-lived collaborative project, which had an uncharacteristically lukewarm reception. Still Pointless, though, sounds like vintage BalletBoyz.
The programme includes, obviously, Critical Mass, which Nunn and Trevitt will themselves dance – and to say I’m really looking forward to see them perform again is a massive understatement. Then, as Nunn explains,
“The rest of the show has been completely commissioned by us – music and movement – and it’s really just tied into significant moments for the company.”
Still Pointless – The Repertoire
As well as Critical Mass, the programme includes extracts from eight epoch-making pieces by choreographers such as Christopher Wheeldon, Javier de Frutos, Maxine Doyle and Liam Scarlett, and musical scores by Max Richter, Keaton Henson and Cassie Kinoshi.
There is also, William Trevitt stresses, a brand new piece:
“The thing that we’ve always been focused on is commissioning new collaborations, something original, and so we had to have a new commission. We’ve been working with Seirian [Griffiths], who’s the choreographer of the new work. He came straight from school to work with us [after Covid], and he’s been developing his choreographic career alongside his dance. We just thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to showcase his work on an international stage like Sadler’s Wells.”
Then what turned out to be a very silly question: did they give Seirian Griffits free hand to create his new commission? A mischievous smile crossed Trevitt’s face:
“We never give free hands – It might feel like we do” (both burst out laughing), “but there’s always some conditions.
“I mean, part of it was the duration: we wanted it to be something that we would be able to develop into a bigger work later. And we asked him to include eight of the dancers, so, not a solo.”
One of the remarkable things about all BalletBoyz cohorts over the years has been the way in which the dancers’ mutual understanding mirrors that of Nunn and Trevitt, something which is not always apparent in many companies, even long-standing ones; and so it is with the current 10-strong company, which includes seasoned BalletBoyz dancers and four newcomers. They’ve really gelled as a company, says William Trevitt:
“Post-Covid there’s a really strong network, and they’ve all worked with each other, because jobs are smaller and shorter. So, dancers like the ones we’re working with, they all know each other, they’ve all worked together on something at some point.”
Nunn and Trevitt Film makers
Like previous BalletBoyz shows, Sill Pointless includes film. Michael Nunn explains the thinking behind it.
“Because it’s a retrospective and we’ve basically documented our entire lives, between the [live] pieces you’ll learn a bit more about the company, why we’re doing what we do, who the people are. And then, also, we have a section from Young Men, the war movie we made [in 2016], which incorporates live dance, which we tried as a hybrid in Wilton’s Music Hall and in New York.
“And I think It always helps, especially with regional venues that don’t know you, just to explain a bit more about what you’re seeing, what to expect.”
Dancers and company directors, Nunn and Trevitt are also seasoned film makers, respectively director and cinematographer. Film, they feel, can bring something extra to dance – tailor-made film, they mean, not just relays of live performances; as Michael Nunn puts it:
“We were always interested in being inside narrative productions.”
The aim, in William Trevitt’s words, is,
“To make it feel like it feels if you’re a member of the cast. You know, to see the quality of the performances first hand.”
At the time of writing, Nunn and Trevitt are putting the final touches to a dance movie planned to hit cinemas in September, part of their “moving pictures programme’, a new platform for dance on the big screen.
And they are also working on a big scale production, a 70-minute piece with a live orchestra, that will come to Sadler’s Wells in the Autumn. BalletBoyz are back with a vengeance – watch this space!
©Teresa Guerreiro
(Banner Image: BalletBoyz in Christopher Wheeldon’s US. Photo: Annabel Moeller)
BalletBoyz Still Pointless is a Sadler’s Wells 12 – 16 May 2026 and then touring.
Full tour info and tickets here