Radioactive Practise Review

Reviewed by Alice at Sadler’s Wells

The performance is described as to be hurtling onto the stage with explosive physicality, with six performers challenging their physical and mental limits.

Photo by Maria Baranova

The music blasts to life and a deep thumping hum reverberates loudly, not just from the speakers but through the sprung floor. 

A single Dancer enters and begins her journey on what I can only describe as an exploration of pain. The music stops, and we are treated to the breathing, occasional vocables and the squeak of a trainer only. As the other 5 dancers join, we are engaged in an attack on the human body, watching the effort, strength and stamina behind every move as opposed to the hidden pains of an effortless ballet, for example. 

I am so close I can see, hear and feel the reach of every limb and every heartbeat. I am mesmerised. Brief reprises for the exhausted troupe are given by way of 30 second musical interludes of discordant noise which is quickly lost to drop us back into the silence and emptiness of the dancers vocables. The occasional 'ha', 'yip' and trill are all the group need to execute the next move together. Their moves are in harmony by these cues, and their spacial awareness with each other's movements was very, very special. This must've taken hours of rehearsal time to perfect. 

Photo by Maria Baranova

The piece was also very age and body positive, reinforcing our human shell's journey whether older, younger, slighter or fuller. Set group pieces switched to solos, duets, men versus females, each with their own aggressive stomp, back hop and or floor hit. Being on the stage with them, we were treated to the ferocity of the body slaps, the sweat, and the sheer attack of every twisted and unfamiliar move.

The team performed an impressive hour and I enjoyed it very much. I would've perhaps liked some music or recorded sound to have been used towards the second half of the piece, or indeed, some slower, fluid moves to break up the attack and elevate the piece to excellence, but their unity and sheer determination etched on every exhausted moment was really something very unique to behold.