English National Ballet, The Forsythe Programme Review 5*
English National Ballet’s The Forsythe Programme brings superb artistry, virtuoso dancing and unalloyed joy to Sadler’s Wells Theatre
Who says ballet can’t be fun? Certainly not the exhilarated Sadler’s Wells audience who rose as one to cheer and applaud the dancers of English National Ballet on the first night of The Forsythe Programme.
And, of course, not the choreographer William Forsythe himself, whose long career has been to a large extent an exercise in deconstructing classical ballet, to make it fresh, young, irreverent and fun.
Over the past few years English National Ballet has taken ownership of Forsythe’s work in the UK. The final piece in The Forsythe Programme triple bill, Playlist (EP), is a development of an original ENB commission, and the exuberance of the performances, coupled with vibrant smiles of pleasure on the dancers’ faces (so different from the polite smiles of classical ballet) attest to their enjoyment.
English National Ballet dancers performing William Forsythe’s Playlist (EP) © Photography by ASH
Set to a medley of house and soul music by the likes of Barry White and Natalie Cole, Playlist (EP) is an explosion of joy and virtuoso dancing for a numerous cast clad in shocking pink and bright turquoise – flimsy dresses for the women, shinny tights and T-shirts with their names on the back for the men (costume design by Forsythe himself).
Forsythe’s style is expansive. All the steps are rigorously those of classical ballet, but pushed slightly off-centre, using the momentum of bodies in motion to generate flowing, energetic, space devouring waves of movement, with batterie much in evidence.
Playlist (EP) starts with three groups of four men each executing small steps in unison, and gradually evolves into ever more complicated enchainments for each group, simultaneous whirlwinds of turning and jumping; but all of a sudden they break into an easy, loose-hip walk, fingers snapping, and melt into the wings. Forsythe likes his little jokes.
For the women there is a lot of stabbing pointe work, extended arabesques, high-kicking développés in second; and to see them dance in perfect unison is simply glorious.
Given the commitment and sparkle of the entire cast it is perhaps unfair to single out one dancer; but I was absolutely mesmerised by Rhys Antoni Yeomans, whose performance was nothing short of magnetic.
The programme worked as a gradual build up to this thrilling finale. It opened with Rearray (London Edition 2025), a piece for a woman and two men performed on opening night by Sangeun Lee, Henry Dowden and Rentaro Nakaaki.
A series of short fragments separated by blackouts and danced either in silence or to an atonal score by David Morrow, it is an exercise in pure, spare movement. Tall, long-limbed Sangeun Lee traces Forsythe’s lines and balances with perfect control and understanding, as if setting exercises for the admiring men, who dance individually until, briefly entangled, thye’re made to dance as one.
Rentaro Nakaaki and Henry Dowden performing William Forsythe’s Rearray (London Edition 2025) © Photography by ASH
Herman Schmerman (Quintet) followed. A piece for three women and two men, it is set to an assertive electronic score by Forsythe’s regular collaborator Thom Willems. Here the subdued costumes of Rearray give way to bright brick-red leotards, and the almost academic movement of the first piece becomes more expansive, dynamic, airborne.
English National Ballet dancers performing William Forsythe’s Herman Schmerman © Photography by ASH
The title, borrowed from the 1982 comedy film Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, means nothing and neither does the ballet. In Forsythe’s own words: “It’s just five talented dancers dancing around – and that’s good, isn’t it?”
Oh yes, so good!
© Teresa Guerreiro
(Banner image credit: English National Ballet dancers performing William Forsythe’s Playlist (EP) © Photography by ASH)
English National Ballet, The Forsythe Programme is a Sadler’s Wells 11 – 19 April 2025. Full info, daily casting and tickets here