Review: RADIOACTIVE PRACTICE - ABBY Z AND THE NEW UTILITY, Sadler's Wells

Dance Umbrella continues in London with Radioactive Practice by Abby Z (Abby Zbikowski) and the New Utility. Sadler’s Wells is transformed for the work with three banks of seats placed on the stage and the upper two circles of the auditorium closed. Some audience members still sit in the stalls, but the performance has become in-the-round dance.

I've experienced this Wells set-up before (Jules Cunningham’s how did we get here?) and it makes one consider parity. Other works don't have the luxury of being “in your face”, they have to aim to communicate beyond the stage through the content and execution of it. Cunningham went for intimate subtlety, Zbikowski less so.

To quote Zbikowski herself “I make contemporary dance works that pay homage to the effort of living” - and effort was the word that coloured virtually my whole experience of Radioactive Practice. Other dance forms aim to hide effort levels. I don't need that. In fact I enjoy the physicality that dance entails, but effort for effort's sake I find less interesting.

The majority of the one hour work is without music, so a different soundtrack presents itself; audible breath, numerical and gibberish cues and seemingly endless platitudes between the cast: “I see you”, “you got this”, “I got you”, “YAAS” etc. Apologies for being annoyingly English but please make it stop. Anything so oversold loses meaning very quickly.

And I'm afraid that's how I felt about Radioactive Practice as a whole. I absolutely recognise the effort involved, the skill of the cast, and at times Zbikowski’s choreographic, structural capabilities. But overall, it felt like I was watching a tough session at one of those trendy, verging on controversial, workout spaces, where they throw away the rule book in the face of agility training development.

I must admit though, I've rarely seen space devoured like the cast manage to do so. Drag leaps covering literally what feels like metres. Elsewhere we see tilts of the body with zero inhibition, rapid rhythmical phrasing that's reminiscent of hyperactive hopscotch and relentless body slamming. Yes, dancers either slamming into each other or the floor. Full pelt. I admit I winced more than once. All feeling quite La La La Human Steps without the benefit of the genre-defining associated recognition.

The piece included two mini musical interludes. One more house music-orientated with atmospheric, low-level blue lighting, the other heavy metal with the lights randomly flickering. It was intriguing to be on stage in these moments seeing the theatre from a different perspective; I relished engaging with the endless space in the fly system.

Zbikowski’s lexicon is at its most potent when performed in unison, and during phrases that create their own percussive rhythm through the movement itself. Elsewhere the one dimensionality of effort becomes boring, skillful but uninteresting.

I believe Radioactive Practice exists within the broader term of dance, but it lives right on the edge of the art/sport border. Throughout dance we see effort as part of the equation, not exclusive, and this composite approach is what makes sport disappear and art transcend. The emotional toil of Bausch’s Rite, the utilitarian beauty of De Keersmaeker's Fase; that's what I'm talking about - YAAS!

Dance Umbrella Festival continues until 31 October 

Photo Credits: Ben McKeown

To post a comment, you must register and login.