I’ve wasted too many hours trying to persuade people that ballet can be fun. Glamorous, romantic, spectacular, sure. But fun? That’s a tough sell. So all hail the life-enhancing fizz of Playlist, which caps William Forsythe’s triple bill at English National Ballet. Now nudging 70, the American choreographer made his name in the 1980s as a radical brainiac, wrenching ballet technique in unexpected directions. More recently, he’s matched the cerebral with the sassy, lining up his pop mixes and having a ball. Us too.
There’s also an exhilaration in experiment, which motivates the show’s first half. Forsythe created Rearray as a duet in 2011, but revisits it as a trio for London. On a stark stage and under scrupulously subdued lighting, it looks forensic: three dancers see where a move will take them, how they can fit along and around each other.
As the title suggests, Forsythe lays out an array of ballet moves for re-examination. The majestic Sangeun Lee, with her cool gaze and limbs that go on for weeks, unleashes an extravagant blend of whip and glide. Her arms and legs are always in play, flying and kinking in different directions – the two men (Henry Dowden and Rentaro Nakaaki) duck for cover as she spins.
Next a quintet from 1992’s Herman Schmerman. This was the height of Forsythe’s sometimes abrasive relationship with classical ballet: he burned away its politesse, tugged it off balance. Here, bodies seem ambushed by the choreography – there’s no run up, just one precision manoeuvre after another.
You can’t smooth or soften these moves – the excitement is in the angles. Again, it’s exposed: costumes zing in orange-red, and the score is a clockwork jangle by Thom Willems. Zipping from one position to the next, Alice Bellini and Aitor Arrieta are thrillingly exact. As for Playlist – it slaps. Dressed in electric pink and blue, it’s a piece of helium buoyancy, letting the dancers ignite their best fireworks: classical virtuosity hits different away from Tchaikovsky.
Again, it grew from an earlier work, for the ENB lads: they throw shapes to Peven Everett and Lion Babe, skimming over the beat, cutely shunting their hips. They have license to dazzle: tilting off kilter, spinning in a ridiculous blur. Everyone gets a moment among the funk and finesse, with some younger artists shining: Anri Sugiura and Nathaniel Ritter-Magot are stunners. Lee returns for an insouciant flirt with Gareth Haw and there’s a lovely wrist-rippling number for the women.
A Barry White ensemble groove looks like a missing scene from Barbie (their job is bounce), followed by a joyous finale to Natalie Cole. The superb Precious Adams and Junor Souza show all of Forsythe’s questing extremity, but with added wiggle. Playlist is wall to wall panache, and I could watch it again right this second.
