Marylebone theatre, London
Fairytale meets hip-hop in Kevan Allen’s energetic reworking of the classic ballet about a toymaker and his all-too-realistic doll
Kevan Allen usually choreographs for film premieres, TV, musicals, fashion shows, corporate events and pop videos (Hear’Say’s Pure and Simple was one of his, 00s fans). But here he is with his own company, revisiting a 19th-century ballet. And it doesn’t look like much else you’ll see on the dance stage.
As you’d expect from that CV, Allen is good at energy, immediacy and putting a populist spin on things. Sophisticated, sensitive choreography that reveals people’s inner worlds? Less so. But that’s not the point. I don’t think this was made for po-faced dance critics, and it’s doing a laudable UK tour to places that don’t often see much dance.
The whole thing is a mashup: ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, commercial dance, all piled on top of each other. The music, by Swedish composer Rickard Berg, takes Léo Delibes’ ballet score and remixes it, throwing down a hip-hop beat (in a poor-sounding recording at this theatre). The setting has olde-worlde fairytale vibes but also dancers wearing headphones and bouncing basketballs, and the costumes are busy with layers and textures, frills, belts and patches (and all danced barefoot). It’s the “more is more” approach – messy, but enjoying all the incongruity.
