English National Ballet, The Forsythe Programme

English National Ballet, The Forsythe Programme, Sadler’s Wells, April 10, 2025

When the curtain opens on the Sadler’s Wells stage at the beginning of English National Ballet’s The Forsythe Programme, it is the figure of Sangeun Lee in Rearray (London Edition 2025), standing sideways to the audience under Tanja Rühl’s luminous, even lighting that captures all the potential energy of the space. Our focus is drawn naturally into Lee’s apparent stillness, anticipating the release of that energy in the lines and angles that her body holds poised within it. In silence, the sinewy machinery of her limbs extends into the space around her and her weight alights on the ground as if dancing a sophisticated dialogue with gravity. There is seemingly no effort, no evident resistance in her movement, even if the entire technique of classical ballet on which it is built is predicated on the natural opposition of the body’s internal forces. Lee’s mastery of stillness and precision means we are free to enjoy the angular, extended choreography Forsythe has created for her; the dancer and the dance have merged seamlessly. This is not always the case, however, with her two partners on this occasion: Henry Dowden and Rentaro Nakaaki. They dance the steps and shapes of the choreography but we also see the physical effort that goes into making them. Roslyn Sulcas, writing in the evening’s program, highlights ’…the idea of ‘line’, which transforms the body into a continuously flowing, harmoniously coordinated whole, with even the most strenuous passages appearing to be effortless.’ When the effort becomes external and visible, however, it has the effect of an overload of electricity that blows the fuse. The choreography doesn’t actually stop, but the dynamics are short-circuited and the lines and angles of the body foreshortened. 

Forsythe’s choreography, like that of one of his formative influences, George Balanchine, is built on the kind of technique — and Balanchine trained his dancers to master the technique he demanded — that extrudes the vocabulary of classical ballet through a vivid, geometric imagination that is invested in the joy of movement. There is little else in Rearray (London Edition 2025) to divert our attention — no narrative, no scenery, and minimal costumes. Forsythe sets up a frictionless choreographic system to negotiate David Morrow’s score, and it is then up to the dancers to perform within it without touching the sides. When danced well it is pure exhilaration to watch but not if there’s the slightest friction in the system. 

Rearray (London Edition 2025) is followed by a re-staging by Stefanie Arndt and Noah Gelber of Herman Schmerman (Quintet) to a score by Tom Willems. It’s another work in which the men in particular — some of the leading dancers in the company — are doing too much, their shoulders belying any attempt to create a clean line. And with one chance to see it (it will return in ENB’s R:Evolution in October) we have only the program note to assure us that Herman Schmerman (Quintet) ‘is arguably the second smash hit of [Forsythe’s] career, following 1987’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated…’ 

Even in the program photograph of the final work of the evening —Playlist (EP) — the evidence of shoulder strain is clearly on display. What is going on? Why allow damning evidence to appear on a full-page spread in the program? The work has its origins as Playlist (Track 1, 2) from 2018, when Forsythe was invited by former artistic director Tamara Rojo to create it on twelve male dancers in the company. It was extended the following year as Playlist (EP) at Boston Ballet and entered English National Ballet’s repertoire in 2022. Set to ‘an irresistible soundtrack of infectious pop and soul’, it is Forsythe in a major key channeling the company’s dance-floor energy in a series of choreographic permutations that, unlike the first two works, look out at the audience with an irrepressible desire to please. It seems the Sadler’s Wells audience knows what to expect, for the enthusiasm generated by the rising curtain, like the anticipation of the headliner at a rock concert, continues to the end of the performance. 

English National Ballet’s new artistic director, Aaron Watkin, is still at the stage of assessing his heritage. With The Forsythe Programme he is able to draw from his own experience as a dancer working with Forsythe to enrich the repertoire, but if, in his own words, he wants to continue ‘to show the different colours of Bill’s choreographic voice’ there’s work to be done on refining the company’s vocal chords.

Semperoper Ballett, All Forsythe at Sadler’s Wells

Semperoper Ballett, All Forsythe Program, Sadler’s Wells, June 21

Jiri Bubenicek in Enemy in the Figure (photo: Costin Radu)

William Forsythe’s name is synonymous with a vision of classical dance that is on the advanced edge of contemporary ballet and the opportunity to see an evening of his work in London is rare. The three works on Semperoper Ballett’s London première at Sadler’s Wells — In The Middle Somewhat Elevated, Neue Suite and Enemy in the Figure — are all vintage Forsythe from his time at the helm of Ballet Frankfurt. This is both the draw and the challenge for the company’s artistic director, Aaron Watkin, and his 18 dancers. Watkin has strong connections to Forsythe both as a dancer and as one of those responsible for staging his work around the world, but here he stands at the helm of his own company that the Forsythe brand has put on the international map.

Despite the close lineage of Forsythe, there is an impression in watching Semperoper Ballett that — with some exceptions — the dancers are doing the choreography rather than letting it happen. In the creation of In The Middle Somewhat Elevated Forsythe was fascinated with the ability of dance to arise autonomously from a state of pedestrian languor; it was as much the formal extensions to which he took ballet as how a dancer got there that interested him. The constant play within In The Middle Somewhat Elevated between doing nothing and pulling off a sequence that takes the breath away is what maintains a sense of excitement and risk in the work, qualities that the score by Thom Willems unequivocally reinforces. What we are missing on the Sadler’s Wells stage is that space for what isn’t happening before a step, the coolness of non-anticipation; what we are seeing is the premeditated preparation. This extra effort takes away from the élan of the steps themselves — not to mention the sense of risk — and alters their precise musicality. Some technical lapses on this first night performance contribute to the general lack of brilliance of the dancing, though the rapturous applause recognizes the continuing allure of the work.

Neue Suite premiered with Semperoper Ballett in 2012 but it’s sequence of eight duets derives from three previous works Forsythe made for his own company: Invisible Film (1995) to Handel’s Concerti Grossi op. 6, Workwithinwork (1998) to Berio’s Duett für 2 Violinen and Kammer/Kammer (2000) to the Allemande of Partita No. 1 by Bach. Roslyn Sulcas writes in the program, ‘Forsythe may not be interested in emotional contents in the narrative sense but he is definitely interested in the relationships and emotions that are created through physical interaction.’ It’s a wonderful insight into how to read these duets and the inclusion of Neue Suite is a welcome addition to the program by presenting Forsythe’s choreographic intelligence — as well as the dancers — in intimate detail. As relationships go there’s as much tension as there is emotion in the partnering but individually it’s the women who come off more relaxed and self-assured, especially Alice Mariani, Jenny Laudadio and Sanguen Lee. It is only in the final duet that Zarina Stahnke and Houston Thomas find common ground and a shared exhilaration.

Enemy in the Figure is a wild beast of a work that gives the company a chance to revel in the rich theatrical complexity that Forsythe can bring to the stage not only as choreographer but as designer of the set, costumes and lighting. An undulating plywood wall divides the stage diagonally and the lighting is provided by an industrial-sized lamp that is wheeled round the stage by the dancers with the excitement and precision of explorers in a cave. Enemy in the Figure is as much about what moves in front of the light as what might be happening in its shadows or invisibly behind the wall. The stage becomes a dream-like phantasmagoria peopled with energy where Forsythe, reunited with a score by Willems, enjoys breaking free of old theatrical conventions and creating new ones, splitting the stage into zones of cerebral activity connected by a pulsing cortex of rope. It’s immediately apparent this is a work that suits the company’s men in particular, allowing their range of physicality and imagination to let loose. There’s a duet for two men where legs fly like helicopter blades against the partition, memorable interventions by Jón Vallejo and a wildly articulated solo by Christian Bauch where his black, fringed outfit makes him look like the devil incarnate. If light brought this work to life it is its withdrawal that brings it slowly and silently to a close with only the sound of someone knocking on the plywood partition.