Review: ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET'S DUST, Milton Keynes Theatre

I've written about Dust, Akram Khan's work for English National Ballet World War One programme, Lest We Forget, several times. Somehow, each time, even knowing what's coming, it still packs a chilling, earth-shattering punch both through the screen and on stage.

As part of ENB's second Wednesday Watchalong, Dust is available for 48 hours on YouTube. Exploring multiple themes of war, the opening section evokes imagery of men in the trenches, the ensemble creating illusions with their arms, moving as though one. The pulsating rippling goes back and forth between the rank of dancers before Khan places the women centre stage.

A strong and defiant group then blankly perform a series of intense, robotic actions, signifying the factory work they had to participate in. Khan was keen to explore the relationship between absent husbands and wives. While the wives had to see their husbands off to war, the weapons produced from their factory work were the very ones killing others' loved ones. This is just one of the powerful themes Dust brings to life so vividly. The addition of Jocelyn Pook's moving and insistent composition, played with authority by ENB Philharmonic, brings ever greater weight to Khan's choreography.

Painful and poignant, the central pas de deux that accounts for nearly half of this short work follows. It's a turbulent, deliberately uncomfortable struggle between James Streeter and Tamara Rojo (Rojo emerging as the female lead amongst the female ensemble). They twist, turn and contort their bodies, hopefully seeking re-connection, but although together, they cannot rebuild their relationship.

Be sure not to blink so you absorb every tiny moment of brilliance in this piece. The final moments see Streeter scrambling up his trench, preparing to go "over the top". Lit in silhouette, we see a single bead of sweat fall from his face before the blackout. Khan couldn't have engineered such an organic moment, but Dust is such a perfect work, you can't help but think he might have.

You can watch Dust until 7pm on Friday, 1 May on YouTube. You can donate to ENB's future fund here.

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