Made in Leeds review: Northern Ballet shows its experimental side

This triple bill, featuring three short works from rising choreographers, is a reminder of the company’s versatility

Zoe Anderson
Wednesday 02 November 2022 13:06 GMT
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Minju Kang and Jonathan Hanks in ‘Nostalgia’
Minju Kang and Jonathan Hanks in ‘Nostalgia’ (Emma Kauldhar)

Made in Leeds is a chance to see Northern Ballet’s experimental side. The Leeds-based company is best known for its very popular story ballets, building a loyal audience for both its adult and child-friendly shows. This triple bill shows off the dancers’ versatility - and how grounded they are. Across works by rising choreographers Mthuthuzeli November, Stina Quagebeur and Dickson Mbi, they can sweep through driving rhythms or give symbolic gestures a fresh, heartfelt emphasis.

November, best known as a dancer and award-winning choreographer with Ballet Black, evokes a sense of community in Wailers. It starts with a jingle of ankle bells, as Aerys Merill’s Grandmother figure leads and comforts a group of dancers, particularly Sarah Chun’s Mother.

There’s a lovely everyday quality to November’s images of shared responsibility: they look lived-in and natural, rather than solemn. When his score shifts into vocal harmonies, it draws the cast into rippling moves, with bold collective energy. November confidently blends ballet and folk-inflected steps, the clop of pointe shoes against the bells.

In Stina Quagebeur’s Nostalgia, a couple remember and recapture past moods, making sense of their own story. Quagebeur, now associate choreographer at English National Ballet, has a light touch with dance drama, blending fluid moves with hints of storytelling.

Minju Kang perches on Jonathan Hanks’s shoulders as he types in mid-air, both looking ahead with fixed, bright focus – caught up in a virtual memory. Exploring their memories, they repeat a slip-sliding step, slow and richly textured – they’re pressing deep into the past. Rachael Gillespie and Gavin McCaig flit in and out as an earlier, bouncier version of the same couple. Kang and Hanks watch and echo their former selves, conjuring up fond memories but recognising how things change.

Sarah Chun in ‘Wailers'
Sarah Chun in ‘Wailers' (Emma Kauldhar)

Dickson Mbi’s Ma Vie Live expands the 10-minute film he created for this company, an exploration of the character of Casanova. In the opening scene, flickering images are projected onto Minju Kang’s immensely long hoop skirt. The hands of an animated puppet master manipulate real-life bodies, leaving them twitching on the ground. Back on stage, guest dancer Jonadette Carpio commands the action, with a growing sense of power.

Yet this stage version is baggier, less focused. Casanova’s religious struggles are still implied, but Mbi has removed the film’s priestly figures and imagery. Over 40 minutes, there’s some nagging repetition, particularly of Roger Goula’s looped score. But there’s a sharp edge to the way Mbi’s cast shuffle and hop, Northern Ballet’s dancers moving with collective power.

Until 3 November. www.roh.org.uk

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