BalletBoyz, Fourteen Days, Sadler’s Wells, London, review: The company dance with assurance

BalletBoyz return with their original project – four pieces created in only 14 days

BalletBoyz performing in Javier De Frutos’ 'The Title Is In the Text' as part of 'Fourteen Days' at Sadler's Wells (Panayiotis Sinnos)

Plenty of new work, wildly varied results. BalletBoyz, the all-male company founded by Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, has always had a focus on ambitious commissions, even when resources were tight. Fourteen Days makes a point of it. Trevitt and Nunn gave four choreographers two weeks to make a new work, each teaming up with a different composer. The works range from an intimate duet by leading ballet choreographer Christopher Wheeldon to a rambling, showbizzy confrontation by Strictly Come Dancing's Craig Revel Horwood.

Javier De Frutos’ The Title Is In the Text is the longest and loudest of these pieces. Nine dancers work their way around a giant seesaw. Scott Walker’s score drifts from a voiceover discussing currency to a choir singing “GTFO”. Everybody shuffles together on the seesaw, or watches as power struggles unfold. It’s heavy-handed as well as noisy, with limited and repetitive groupings.

Iván Pérez’s Human Animal is slight, but more fun. Five dancers in flowery shirts and black underpants trot in circles to Joby Talbot’s swirling score, played live. That’s more or less it: the choreography is all prancey bare legs and changes of speed.

Wheeldon’s Us is the strongest work of the night. Jordan Robson and Bradley Waller go from fingertip touches through winding, grappling moves, ending in tenderness. There’s a sense of cautious intimacy, hands tentatively joined before they step closer to each other. Wheeldon uses the BalletBoyz’ muscular style to show vulnerability as well as strength. Wary partnering develops into a more trusting embrace. Keaton Henson’s music adds to the thoughtful mood. The final pose still suggests distance, until Robson moves to close the gap.

Horwood’s The Indicator Line is a clumsy mix of jazz hands and drama. Nine men stride up and down in tap shoes, feet clopping against Charlotte Harding’s music. Another man, in a red military coat, bosses and threatens them. When they circle him, he whips off the coat and vanishes into the line-up. It’s underpowered and oddly glitzy. If this is a parallel between the drilled unity of the military and the chorus line, it misses the strength of both.

The company dance with assurance, smoothly covering any adjustments needed after a last-minute injury. The evening ended with a revival of Russell Maliphant’s 2013 Fallen, which shows off their confident, weighted moves.

Until 14 October (sadlerswells.com). Touring until 2 December (www.balletboyz.com)