An Untitled Love review: Romance takes centre stage in Kyle Abraham's celebration of African American life
Kyle Abraham's An Untitled Love kicks off the new Rose International Dance Prize on a note of community, joy, and sheer beauty. To an R&B soundtrack by D'Angelo, 10 dancers meet, pair off, gossip, and hang out. As individual stories weave in and out, Abraham builds a bigger picture of a culture.
It's the finest work I've yet seen from Abraham, and it makes a strong start for the Rose Prize. Designed to give dance its own equivalent of the Booker or the Turner, the award has strands for emerging artists as well as established names like Abraham. After 10 days of prize performances, the winners will chosen by a jury including PJ Harvey and Arlene Philips.
Danced by his own company, AIM by Kyle Abraham, An Untitled Love sets a high bar. The choreography draws on social dancing, contemporary, hip hop, and everyday gesture. It adds up to a luscious quality of movement, an easy virtuosity. A shared glance turns into a dance, or puts someone on their dignity.
In one gorgeous scene, four women sit on a sofa, reacting in unison to the world about them: shrugging one shoulder, clasping hands over a crossed knee, a turn of the head. The timing is deft and witty, those rippling shoulders and fluid torsos make the dance glow.
Dan Scully's simple set evokes places people meet: a sofa and houseplants, different lamps for club or living room. The soundtrack throws in snatches of conversation: Catherine Kirk has an entire offstage monologue as she gets ready for a date she's not sure about, zipping up dress after dress as she questions her own commitment.
Some of these lovers have an easier time of it. One couple lock eyes early, awareness of each other colouring how they move. A group of men give a friend well-meant dating advice; another man pursues a woman, having failed to notice that she already has a girlfriend.
While the focus is romance, the sense of love feels much broader. Abraham touches on racism, but refuses to centre it: there's an element of defiance in the happiness of this work. Celebrating the Black American community he grew up in, he's both sharp-eyed and fond. Characters can be petty or insecure, without losing depth. An Untitled Love feels deeply humane: its worldview is as generous as its lovely, flowing moves.
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