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The Guardian
16-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The week in dance: Our Mighty Groove; Encantado
'You Are Welcome,' reads the sign, in bright red letters, above the door of the newly opened Sadler's Wells East, on the fringes of the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, east London. Even on a rainy winter's evening, that lighted sign fulfilled its promise. Architectural practice O'Donnell + Tuomey have provided the redeveloped Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with a warm embrace of a red-brick structure; inside, an airy foyer with bright artwork and its own mini stage. Six dance studios upstairs provide equally generous and well-proportioned working spaces for professionals as well as students at Academy Breakin' Convention and the Rose Choreographic School. So far, so very good, though on a bitterly cold opening night, with an immersive show, it might have been an idea to offer a free cloakroom; you could sense the goodwill evaporating as people rummaged for their debit cards. It was best to check coats in because Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu's Our Mighty Groove, first seen at the original Sadler's Wells in Islington 12 years ago, had been expanded to show off the capabilities of 550-seat auditorium – and to get everyone dancing. The show begins with the audience seated, as the Mighty Groove nightclub gets ready for business. Inspired by the choreographer's own experience when clubbing in New York, the mood is friendly, as the harassed club owner (Dani Harris-Waters) gets his feet stuck on the drink-sticky floor, and the bouncer (expansively gifted Cache Thake) prepares to propose to his girl. Warring divas, a shy first-timer and smart girl groups all turn up ready to party to a sensational, Ghanaian-flavoured score from Kweku Aacht and Warren 'Flamin Beatz' Morgan-Humphreys. In a cast of 19, the professional dancers of Uchenna Dance, particularly Shanelle Clemenson, inevitably made more impact than the local dancers recruited to make up the numbers, but the whole thing had energy and style. It felt slightly lost, though, on a stage the size of the one at Sadler's Wells East (which replicates the dimensions of its sister venue). In the second half, when the seats were retracted and the audience walked through the nightclub entrance to do their own two-step as the action unfolded on surrounding raised platforms, the show took off. It was great fun. Over at the other Sadler's Wells, meanwhile, the mood was more rarefied as Lia Rodrigues's Encantado, the final entrant in the new biennial Rose International Dance Prize, was unveiled. For a long time, its performers unroll colourful floor coverings in semi-darkness; then they crawl beneath them, naked. As the piece progresses, the dancers begin to move, wrapping the cloths around them in different configurations, becoming characters, animals, strange creatures. It had joyful moments but it was a long watch at 60 rigorous minutes. This is dance at its more theoretical – not very accessible at all. The ultimate winner of this £40,000 prize was Larsen C, by Christos Papadopoulos. I saw it only on film (which is how it was chosen for the live final), where its detailed shapes and floating steps are beautiful in closeup. It looks amazing, but on stage, in crepuscular darkness, its slow-moving progress must have been challenging. The contrast between Our Mighty Groove and Encantado bothered me. The danger of a dance prize modelled on the Turner and the Booker is that it will have the same divisive effect, creating a separation between 'serious' work and more popular endeavours. Dance in all its variety has to welcome everyone. Star ratings (out of five)Our Mighty Groove ★★★ Encantado ★★★
The Guardian
09-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Our Mighty Groove review – joyful clubland party where everyone's invited for a boogie
It's a big night. Not just the opening of a show, but the launch of a new venue. A 550-seater theatre for dance in London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, part of a cultural quarter alongside a new outpost of the V&A and BBC studios. It's a beautiful space that hopes to bring new audiences to dance, and as befits the occasion, this opening show is a party. Inspired by her own epiphany on a New York dancefloor, Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu's Our Mighty Groove is set in a club, with all the mini dramas of a night out. The show has appeared in a few different iterations since 2013, but this is a bigger reinvention with an expanded cast. We're introduced to the characters of the club, the selfie-obsessed influencer, the 'mother' of the house, the nervous first-timer, the friendly security guy. It's all very likable, readable and broadly comedic, and the dancers surge with energy, drawing on breaking, waacking, house and vogue, locked into the beat. Igbokwe-Ozoagu captures the club's own ecosystem, the friendships, the egos, the self-expression, the possibility for reinvention; a few hours where life's colours are turned up. It doesn't go deep, doesn't build character or drama beyond the surface, but maybe that's not the point of a good night out. The point is what happens after the lengthy 40-minute interval when the auditorium is reconfigured, seats retracted, so that when we next enter we're in the club ourselves, crowding around a giant podium and being encouraged into a tentative two-step. (Important: put your winter coat in the cloakroom if you want to feel free.) Your enjoyment of this show might depend on how much you're in the mood for a boogie, especially at the end when there's a half hour after-party where you can take to the podium yourself – the superb funk/disco/house/African-influenced soundtrack, by Ghanaian composer Kweku Aacht and British producer Warren 'Flamin Beatz' Morgan-Humphreys is designed to get your body moving. Not entirely successful as a piece of theatre perhaps, but a fun, consummately feelgood show that's a great night out and a great celebration of this welcome new venue. Until 9 February
The Independent
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Our Mighty Groove transports audience into heart of club life
The new venue Sadler's Wells East starts with a party. Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu's Our Mighty Groove begins as a theatre piece, introducing us to partygoers arriving at a club night. After the interval, it whisks the audience into the heart of the club, and into the dancing. It underlines the flexibility of the new space, part of the growing East Bank cultural quarter in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Sadler's Wells is one of a group of big names opening centres here, including BBC Music Studios and the V&A. There's a focus on education and creation as well as performance: Sadler's Wells East will be home to Academy Breakin' Convention and the Rose Choreographic school, with six dance studios alongside the 550-seat auditorium. Designed by architects O'Donnell + Tuomey, it's an airy, welcoming building. Glass walls give views over the park, and encourage people in to the cafe and public performance spaces – there's a dance floor for free events. Circulation spaces are generous and lightly industrial, smooth concrete softened by wood. Reworking her 2013 hit for the new venue, Igbokwe-Ozoagu is determined to show off the space and its ethos. Performed by Uchenna Dance Company, the original Our Mighty Groove was all immersive, drawing on the choreographer's joyful experiences in a New York underground club. For 2025, it starts as a theatre show with the audience in their seats, before putting the seating away to take us into the heart of the club. The cast has grown from five to 19, bringing in young local dancers. In the theatrical first half, we see the club getting ready to open, with a voiceover introducing the staff and the regulars. Layered club styles give a sense of personalities, with event staff in hi-vis jackets bubbling over into hip hop and jazz steps. There's an appealing energy to the show, but the earnest storytelling can slow it down. The cast of characters has been updated to include an influencer, phone in hand, but there's little sense of the club as a space to explore deeper identities, such as gender or sexuality. For the second half, we're on our feet and on the dancefloor. Dancers and the voiceover give some simple instructions to get us moving. Dramas unfold in tiny vignettes, dancers popping up on podiums or strutting their stuff through the crowd. Our Mighty Groove is still strongest when it shows people creating themselves on the dancefloor: dance as possibility, as self-definition. Shanelle Clemenson, a member of the original cast, is glorious as the queen of old-style Vogueing, a diva who parts the waves of clubbers with effortless command.
