maliphantworks4, Russell Maliphant Review 4*
Human shadows and dancing drapes join Russell Maliphant on stage at the Coronet Theatre in the new maliphantworks4
Dancer and choreographer Russel Maliphant has accustomed us to shows of remarkable immersive power, where his characteristic hybrid movement combines with sound and innovative lighting to create hypnotic works.
There is, then, a specific Maliphant style; yet with every single show he manages to devise new aesthetics, new ways of seeing dance.
maliphantworks4 does exactly that. It brings Russell Maliphant back to the Coronet, a quirky, intimate venue he’s known to be fond of, with two works danced live on its main stage, and two short, experimental films shown on a loop in the Print Room Studio.
In a Landscape is a world première – I was going to say ‘danced by Maliphant’ but that wouldn’t be accurate: mesmerisingly, this 30 minute piece is danced, too, by diaphanous drapes and shadows cast by Maliphant as a result of Panagiotis Tomaris’s ingenious lighting.
What, on taking my seat, I assumed to be a mere prop – a seemingly heavy golden drape hanging upstage – turns translucent under soft, directional light, to reveal behind it Maliphant in a dark boiler suit.
At first he strikes static angular poses, knees bent, arms stretched out. Gradually his movements start flowing into a harmonious, grounded, highly controlled continuum. Arms and torso stretch as he performs slow, hypnotic turns.
As he emerges from behind that drape, a flimsy rectangular curtain unfurls from above downstage right soon followed by another stage left.
In the centre Maliphant casts perfect shadows of himself on those curtains, shadows that dance with him, even as the gently swaying curtains do their own dance.
Propelled by a custom made score by Dana Fouras, Maliphant’s artistic and life partner, this is yet another dazzling addition to the Maliphant oeuvre.
Afterlight, which comes next, dates from 2009, when it was part of a Sadler’s Wells programme celebrating Diaghilev.
Daniel Proietto in Afterlight. Photo: Hugo Glendenning
Maliphant was inspired by Nijinsky, and this piece, danced by the Argentine Daniel Proietto to Erik Satie’s dreamy Gnossienes, takes its cue from some of Nijinsky’s best known images.
Proietto, a compelling dancer on whom Afterlight was created, starts slowly turning in the centre of Michael Hulls’s milky pool of light, its edges resembling petals. Later the light expands to cover the whole stage, which Proietto fairly devours with ever more intense expansive movement.
I never tire of seeing this piece and indeed this dancer.
The two short films, a late addition to the programme, are studies in movement: in Film One a backlit Dana Fouras, animates the generous folds of Stevie Stuart’s costume with her flowing arms and slow turns; in Film Two Maliphant explores the possibilities of movement while horizontally suspended just above ground from a long elastic band.
At just one hour-long including interval, maliphantworks4 is small but perfectly formed. It deserves further outings after this short run at the Coronet.
© Teresa Guerreiro
(Banner image credit: maliphantworks4, In a Landscape © Dmitri Djurik)
maliphantworks4 is at the Coronet Theatre 10-12 March 2025. Info and tickets here