Review: LE BAL DE PARIS, Barbican Centre

In a world where the metaverse is starting to take over from professional meetings to social gatherings, it's only fair that theatre and dance also get an update.

While "hanging out" online isn't a new thing, with forums and social platforms having existed now since the early 2000s, the notion is still quite foreign when performing arts are concerned.

There have been shows - mainly in the Fringe and at festivals - that use Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). But, while the effort and experiment is laudable and intriguing, they often end up having a brilliant concept but sloppy graphics. That's not the case for Blanca Li's stunning Le Bal de Paris.

Her company transforms the Barbican backstage into a lavish Parisian ballroom dressed in Chanel couture. Whereas most VR projects tend to be isolating ones where everyone is out for themselves, Li's venture has people interacting not only with one another but with the performers themselves. Designed by Vincent Chazal and developed by BackLight Studio, it's like nothing else out there.

Once we're safely strapped into a backpack that houses an entire computer, sensors are tied to our wrists and ankles, and the visor is donned, the fun properly begins. Rows of dancers dance in opulent rooms, parallels of harpists seemingly float on water, guests frolick in a garden worthy of the Queen of Hearts.

The characters, regardless of their being fully digital, human, or real actors, are all in animal masks, looking sharp in their pixelated figures. Two dancers play an array of roles, reaching out to the audience and delivering the (sadly, rather unnotable) core story. After all, what's Paris without some romantic melodrama?

The technology is extraordinary. Impressively sleek and relatively glitch-free, VR isn't all of it. Li adds a further dimension, with breeze and smells featuring in it too. The dresses fly against the wind that we feel on our faces and the flowers radiate a delightful perfume.

If you've ever dreamt of being in a Sims video game, this is it, but classier. While everything looks splendid for being a computerised rendition of Li's vision, the actors have an odd tendency to move in a very Simlish way, waving their arms above their heads and body-rolling all around.

This is, obviously, to set them apart from the public and prevent them from blending in with the other masked players, focusing the attention on them. Still, it's a bit comical and a small tonal eyesore in an otherwise dazzling achievement.

Tao Gutiérrez's exquisite score accompanies the whole experience, carrying the audience from a Chanel changing room to a Parisian club complete with can-can girls.

After the 35 minutes spent in an alternate reality surrounded by beauty and wealth, the participants are escorted to a different part of the Barbican where they're given a dance lesson. In our case, it was hilarious.

It's easy to forget how silly one must look from the outside flailing around and smelling invisible roses smothered by wires, but being taught dance phrases by a trained dancer alongside equally uncoordinated peers is a really humbling way to end an enthralling adventure.

The show has just extended due to high demand, get a ticket to see what the future might look like!

Le Bal de Paris is on at the Barbican Centre until 28 May.

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