It’s not often you’re in at the birth of a company (Michael Clark, DV8) who may just change the landscape, but it’s a measure of the excitement around HeadSpaceDance that the ROH2 have co-produced their first show. Charlotte Broom and Christopher Akrill met dancing with Northern Ballet in the Nineties.
Their first show (with new commissions by Javier De Frutos, Luca Silvestrini and Didy Veldman and a reworking of a duet by Mats Ek from 1991) is funny and touching and very accessible, demystifying much of the jargon around ballet. An extended skit on taking a bow (elbowing fellow dancers out of the way) is met with cheers, as is the pretend tension between veterans Akrill and Broom and hot young talent Clemmie Sveaas (last seen in the Pet Shop Boys’ The Most Incredible Thing).
This is a company who can act as well as dance. They’re not afraid of satire (one section where the women critique Akrill’s dancing is a virtual-parody of Black Swan) but the evening is shot through with moments of real beauty — from Broom’s demented solo with a large quilt (yes, we all have problems getting out of
