Review of McNicol Ballet’s ‘Here & Now’: “Momentarily transcendent, but still not too enduring”

Andrew McNicol’s latest montage landed on the Royal Academy of Music’s stage – blending elements of classical ballet and contemporary dance through a collection of short compositions. Guillermo Nazara shares his views on the show, to let us know if audiences were regaled with a plie-sant experience.

I don’t care about what makes a performance good. So many things in life are good and yet forgettable. I’m interested in what makes a performance worthwhile. That’s rarer to find. But what allows them to be deserving of that title? Some focus on the technique – understandable, endorsable to some extent, but not fulfilling enough. Then, there are those who put talent above everything else – which is a gem that can’t be bought, and thus should always be appreciated. Then again, there’s just as much that talent can offer when it’s not been properly polished. Where does answer lie, then?

I found myself bombarded by all those thoughts last weekend, as I attended the matinee performance of Here & Now, a mixture of classical and contemporary dance assembled in a melange of short renditions put together by the McNicol Ballet Collective company. Choreographed by the group’s artistic director, Andrew McNicol, the montage presented a collection of tales depicted through raucous movement and a minimalist underscore. All of them, promising and compelling at some points – but flaunting a mild, ongoing sense of incompletion all across.

With its second part looking way more elaborate in terms of storytelling than the first half, some of the numbers’ lack of conclusiveness prevents their potential from blooming in full form. By the time we’re starting to get transported, it is already finished – leaving us with a crave for more that, instead of serving as an effective cliffhanger, is closer to trigger frustration in the viewer. Not only do we want more, but the pieces themselves require more in order to succeed.

Act Two does not make that mistake. The whole journey is much better crafted – creating an emotional pacing that bonds with the audience fairly easily, with a narrative path that comes together in full circle.

That may be the reason why the troupe’s delivery is far more arresting, too – setting aside that super precise but stagnant feeling haunting the opening repertoire, and replacing it by a more visceral, instinctive drive. It may not show off the same degree of coordination, but the passion, forcefulness, and soul they bring into it makes up for those absences – and secures a different kind of command onstage that’s definitely more striking and absorbing.

Its simple staging is nonetheless one of the most enthralling aspects of the production. Relying on black box setting with no other inputs than the performers themselves, Yaron Abufalia’s extremely intricate lighting builds an atmosphere so animate and tangible that it truly becomes a breathing entity of its own. At the same time, Louise Flanagan’s costume designs accentuate the visual strength of the piece – adding texture and flow to the whole concoction.

With the mentions in the corps going to Hamish Longley, Casey Nokomis Pereira, and James Stephens, all of them displaying blaring stamina handled with artistic sensitivity, the highest praise is however earned by both The VOCES8 Scholars choir and string quartet. Boasting unblemished phrasing all throughout, their execution is embellished with colour and spirituality – underlining the ethereal quality of the material.

We can’t think of this work as an extraordinary feat, but we can’t call it a disappointment either. Here & Now manages to quietly linger in our memory through its fine ideas and adequate practice, but its more impressive aptitudes are still caged. With some bits needing to be more internalized by its cast, and several other aspects in its conceptualization requiring some extra tweaks, the show is, in any case, a good start for something that could eventually carry a sparkle with it. But it’s moment to shine is yet to come.

All pictures credit to Photography by ASH.

Further dates, venues and tickets for Here & Now are available on the following link.

By Guillermo Nazara