Review: Rambert – KISMET – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Leading out Rambert’s most recent double-bill, Choreographer Emma Evelein made her UK debut with the world premiere of ‘Gallery of Consequence’. Set within an extremely stylish, impressionist airport, the piece follows a diverse group of travellers from check-in to check-out.

Soaring along on the wings of Raven Bush’s cleverly woven patchwork of electronica from John Hopkins’ swelling & pulsating ‘Singularity’ to Stromae’s elegantly joyous ‘merci’, there’s no singular hero or heroine to follow. Instead, “…passing unseen through little moments of other people’s lives” (thank you, Pirsig), Evelein shifts her lens from one traveller to another. Sometimes that lens is wide, taking in the life of the airport as some complex, pulsating organism with an organised yet organically chaotic hive life; at other times she focuses in on the one, or the few.

An airport full of characters

There’s the confused traveller who’s never quite in step with the rest of the airport’s well-oiled machinery, whilst elsewhere another traveller is arguing over the suitability of their luggage. Moments later, we are diving into heartbreaking goodbyes, and once on board, a rather intense panic attack. Fear of flying is no joke in ‘Gallery of Consequence’. On arrival, more choices await – and consequences. What is being chosen is up to you to decide…

These episodic passages are told with a slick, emotive cocktail of modern dance from the smooth to the spiky, gilded with popping, locking, and stylised lip-sync. The latter features in the show’s two unvarnished moments of comedy, the first a superbly camp staff get-together voiced by Instagram’s @Iamtonytalks, the latter a simply splendid vignette told in the Simlish language – that’s the official language of The Sims to the unaware. Susan Bender Whitfield’s SIMS-esque costuming only adds to the sense of genre-crossing delight.

“These episodic passages are told with a slick, emotive cocktail of modern dance from the smooth to the spiky, gilded with popping, locking, and stylised lip-sync.”

In contrast with its partner show, Johan Inger’s ‘B.R.I.S.A.’, ‘Gallery of Consequence’ indulges relatively little in formal partnerwork, preferring its dancers to interact almost conversationally, and only swept into formation for rather grand set-pieces, whether boarding, flying, or departing. That isn’t to say there aren’t hands-on duets or triplets, particularly during more romantic vignettes, but Evelein’s relative abstinence makes those big moments hit all the harder.

Emma Evelein – master of less-is-more

This very successful less-is-more approach is also found in the soundtrack’s one diversion into something more lyrical, in this case, a low-fi filtered, and hugely atmospheric recording of ‘Come Wander With Me’ by Bonnie Beeche. Dialling the melancholy to 11, the accompanying dance is all loss and regret, a feeling mirrored in the show’s lonely, snow-graced finale.

Ultimately, as with any trip to the airport, it’s impossible to know precisely what’s going on with every fellow passenger, or what each moment means to them. What ‘Gallery of Consequence’ offers is a chance to focus your sense of empathy – the reward is an engrossing physical journey through the emotional spectrum.

Stylish sound and set design

The show also demands huge praise for both video designer, AMIANGELIKA, and lighting designer, Ryan Joseph Stafford, whose conjured airport straddles the line between reality and dream with immense style.

The confluence of talents, including the 16-strong Rambert ensemble who carry it all off with trademark style and feeling, makes Emma Evelein’s UK debut one to savour. This study of choice, change, and consequence offers moments of sweetness and joy, of adventure and community – but there’s a thread of melancholy woven through each. If it’s possible to feel nostalgia for people, times, and places you only just discovered, then ‘Gallery of Consequence’ achieves precisely that.

**Rambert – BRISA – Photo by Yiling Zhao**

After the intermission, Rambert’s KISMET double-bill brings Johan Inger’s ‘B.R.I.S.A’ back to the stage. Created for NDT 2 in 2014, it’s a show bursting with joy and good humour. With a soundtrack heavy with Nina Simone’s unmistakable voice and touch on the keys, it’s an unapologetically crowd-pleasing piece.

Inger – master of ritual

Inger is a choreographer who seems to love ritual, and who regularly imbues a sense of evolution in his work, and it’s no different in ‘B.R.I.S.A’ as the dancers seem to pop from the earth and into a windblown existence. If you’ve never seen a dance show featuring leafblowers, then this is your chance.

Inger is also responsible for the set, complete with an almost plush carpet, and which contains proceedings inside a gossamer cage, lit beautifully by Tom Visser. It’s a vista which begs for release, and Inger duly provides when the time is right.

Before the cage falls, however, dancers shuffle into position with tiny, tiny steps, before erupting into action, not least a memorable flight for one brave dancer, enabled by three partners working in sweeping union. The choice of ‘Wild is the Wind’ to accompany this deserves a chef’s kiss. Overall, the show combines elements of folk, modern, and physical theatre to often thrilling, regularly amusing, and always impressive effect.

“If you’ve never seen a dance show featuring leafblowers, then this is your chance.”

Wind, you see, is the catalyst of everything in ‘B.R.I.S.A.’ – soon, another dancer has found a breeze blowing from stage left, allowing it to sweep her into a stylised, yet powerfully atavistic solo, before the rest of the ensemble say ‘I’ll have what she’s having.’ What begins in sweet, sassy duets and triplets soon sweeps everyone up.

Wind-powered Line Dance anyone?

As a choreographer, he also has a genuine flair for what we’ll call supercharged line-dance, and ‘B.R.I.S.A.’ is no different – one joyful passage complete with flappy bird arms motif likely to bring a smile to the stoniest face. Not above the flagrantly funny, Inger has one shy dancer pluck up the courage to join in, only to have the wind powering it all fail. Expect a resounding chuckle from the auditorium – a lovely thing indeed amid an elite dance show.

After that comes the arms race: what begins with hairdryers, ends with Chekhov’s industrial fan – those who prefer their dance sans comedy need not buy a ticket. One need only regard the smiles on each dancer’s face and the energy in their movements to see how much they are enjoying it too. Is ‘B.R.I.S.A.’ a contemplation of spark and transformation? Perhaps – but more importantly, it’s an impressive piece of choreography intended to make an audience smile – actually, scratch that, laugh out loud.

Rambert + Capital Theatres? Yes please.

Overall, KISMET finds Rambert in rude health and on tremendous form. As a co-production of Rambert and Edinburgh’s own Capital Theatres, it hopefully marks the beginning of a beautiful and fruitful collaboration. So brava Emma Evelein for a soaring, stylish and heartfelt world premiere, and bravo Joan Inger for a ‘second-half’ whirlwind of fun.

P.S. I would stop to single out each impressive performance by the Rambert ensemble, but frankly, each is hugely impressive, whether alone or in partnership. So brava, Adél Bálint, Alessio Corallo, Cali Hollister, Coke Lopez, Conor Kerrigan, Dylan Tedaldi, Hannah Hernandez, Hua Han, Jau’mair Garland, Max Day, Naya Lovell, Seren Williams, Siang Huang, Simone Damberg-Würtz, Sungmin Kim, and Tom Davis-Dunn.