By Rachel Cameron-Potter | Stuff Rachel Says | Press Invite

Hailing all the way from New York, Sadler’s Wells welcomed Abby Z (Abby Zbikowski) and the New Utility’s Radioactive Practice to the London stage. Having been named as one of the New York Times’ ‘Best Dance Performances of 2022,’ the performance promised viewers an evening experiencing “a full spectrum of emotions and physical reactions as you watch this work”, with choreography drawing on street dance, synchronised swimming, tap, martial arts and contemporary African forms.

The evening certainly looked set to be spectacular, with seating on stage forming a circular space in the centre, where the dancers would later perform. Unfortunately, the excitement stopped at the seating arrangement, as the performance itself didn’t quite live up to expectations.

The inspiration behind Zbibowski’s “genre-defying dances” is what she describes as “the effort of living”, inspired by her training in Afro-diasporic forms and her background working in manual labour. To Zbibowski’s and the dancers’ credit, the motif of effort definitely shone through. The moves could only be described as powerful, so much so that with the loose, neon clothing and kneepads donned by the dancers, one might think they’d mistakenly walked into an aerobics class.

However, to hammer home the rigorous dimension to the performance, there was no music, aside from the occasional blast of Matthew Payton Dixon’s techno-inspired score between sets. For the majority of the performance, the only sounds on stage were a cacophony of grunts, gasps, and platitudes from the other dancers: “Yasss”, “I see you”, “You got this”. These shouts of encouragement got old quite quickly, and by the end of the hour verged on annoying.

Ultimately, Zbikowski’s choreography did well to capture its core themes of effort and intense labour, but sadly only did that. The depiction of toil meant the show lacked structure, and the absence of music made it hard to stay invested in what became a series of powerful, yet repetitive, moves. If dance theory is your thing, perhaps Radioactive Practice is for you, but if you’re looking for an easy, entertaining show, I’d give it a miss.

WEBSITE

Photo Credit: Maria Baranova