TUTU at Sadlers Wells East Review
Written by Stephen for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
It must have been some five decades ago that I became acquainted with Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, which now markets itself as ‘the world's foremost gender-skewering comic ballet company, parodying the conventions of romantic and classical ballet.’ Over the past 50 years (and the Trocks were formed in 1974) gender fluid dance has moved on, from Wayne Sleep’s take on the four cygnets of ''Swan Lake,'' with Sleep as one of them, coming out in the usual white tutus and feather headdresses, but instead of satin slippers all wearing tap shoes, to Matthew Bourne’s all male Swan Lake.
And so to Chicos Mambo’s ‘Tutu’ which rather treads much of the same ground as the Trocks, a troupe of six men comedically sending up the conventions of ballet and the dance world in various stages of exotically costumed and often bizarre dress (costumes by Corinne Petitpierre assisted by Anne Tesson), and undress. In the first dance, for instance, the bare chested men wear swansdown tutus and leggings and shake their backsides at us!
But it is not just ballet which is parodied, everything from disco to tango, to the bolero and the famous lift in Dirty Dancing makes an appearance. At one point the boys appear in long gowns with almost equally long wigs, comically parodying a Greek chorus, at another as cheerleaders performing circus acts. They all deserve a namecheck - Marc Behra, David Guasgua, Julien Mercier, Kamil Pawel Jasinski, Vincent Simon, Vincenzo Veneruso, and Adele Borde - and yes she is the one female dancer who appears periodically to remind us of the convention which is being gently mocked.
These boys never let us forget that they are accomplished dancers, as they perform Chaplinesque movement and mime, music hall pratfalls, deliberate mishaps, as well as pirouettes ‘en pointe’, and seemingly impossible lifts. As a show it is difficult to describe, part dance, part farce and part absurdist surrealism and part poignancy.
Philippe Lafeuille is the choreographer and artistic director behind TUTU, which he devised and choreographed in 2014 confronting what he considers to be the pretensions of dance, allowing men to express their feminine side. But, without seeming to be pretentious myself, I saw a deeper purpose behind his troupe of ‘Chicos’ ( "boys," "kids," or "guys" in Spanish). He challenges the audience to put aside their preconceptions about gender and sexuality in dance and movement. Dancers should not be categorised as ‘men’ or women’, princes or princesses - they are just dancers. As Cassie sings in ‘A Chorus Line’, “God, I'm a dancer, A dancer dances!”
This eighty minute show, performed against plain black, is replete with some delightful lighting (light creation by Dominique Mabileau assisted by Guillaume Tesson) and stage effects. There is much use of ‘show blacks’ to provide some clever and amusing routines, and in one section a dancer wearing a billowing dress spins and turns, in a moment of beauty, holding on to an aerial strap. There is an eclectic musical background in a miscellany of styles and eras, and some moments of silence.
There is no doubt that this presentation is clever, admirably put together, and often very funny, showing off the virtuosity of the company, yet the content sometimes appears themeless, over absurdist and aimless and while satirising dance conventions seems on occasion to take itself a little too seriously. While being edgy it also treads ground already well-trodden. Nevertheless it is an intriguing show which the audience loved and provides an entertaining evening for lovers of dance and movement.
TUTU plays at Sadlers Wells East until February 15th.
️️️️️ ★★★
