National Dance Company Wales: Surge review – mythical monsters, soulful swingers and an alien chorus line

<p><strong>The Place, London<br></strong>This delightfully unique triple bill spans many worlds with Busby Berkeley-style sci-fi formations, a hazy summery waltz and a wild rampage of Welsh folk dance<strong><br></strong></p><p>The sequins are sensational; the dancers pretty special too. Clad in skin-tight black glittering bodysuits and masks – the full Leigh Bowery – it is a look: gorgeous with an undercurrent of unnerving. There’s a confidence on all fronts in the work of Marcos Morau, which befits a multi-award-winning choreographer who graces major stages with his own company La Veronal, but also has an ongoing relationship with the small National Dance Company Wales. In Waltz (2023) the ideas aren’t overcrowded. Morau’s dancer-creatures emerge like an alien chorus line, bodies entwined in geometric formations like a sci-fi Busby Berkeley. The highly ordered machine breaks down into separate parts, dancers in stop-start motion, their beguiling and peculiar appearance not dissimilar to the dislocated postures of Sharon Eyal or Wayne McGregor. Perhaps the novelty is exhausted before the time runs out, but there’s pleasing clarity, and it looks damn cool.</p><p>This triple bill actually begins with the short Infinity Duet by Faye Tan: two dancers and a swinging sculpture like a trapeze (by Cecile Johnson Soliz). Airy guitar music brings the warmth and ease of a hazy summer day, its breeze – and the pendulum-like sway of the sculpture – setting the dancers in motion. I was waiting for them to start swinging, but it wasn’t that kind of show.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/oct/19/national-dance-company-wales-surge-review-the-place-london">Continue reading...</a>