Sadler’s Wells, London
Doherty choreographs England’s flagship youth dance company in expressive solos, fragmented motion and beautiful tableaux that go by in a flash
There’s a brilliantly simple idea that powers the National Youth Dance Company. You put an exceptional choreographer in charge of a group of talented young people, aged 16-24, in the school holidays over a year and see what happens. The results are always fascinating.
Following in the footsteps of dance-makers such as Wayne McGregor, Alesandra Seutin and Russell Maliphant, this year’s guest artistic director is the Belfast-based Oona Doherty, and the greatest tribute to Wall is that it ends too quickly. Just as it draws you into its intensely personal palimpsest of what it is to be British, it’s suddenly over.