While it is quite common these days to encounter a standing ovation at the end of an evening in the theatre, rather too common in fact, it is much rarer to have a performance interrupted with gasps and spontaneous applause. But that was frequently the case for Copenhagen Collective’s performance of their touring work The Genesis, which passed through the Peacock Theatre all too briefly last week.
It is very rare to see such extraordinary feats of athleticism coupled to a real gift for collective emotional expression, whether in contemporary dance or classical ballet. Uusally it is one or the other, and the choreography that can achieve a meaningful fusion of jaw-dropping technique with emotional power and subtlety is rarely found. However, this show, only an hour in length, achieves both with aplomb.
The beginning is low-key, even predictable: the sixteen dancers, all dressed in minimal black oufits, do a lot of purposeful striding to an acoustic beat, interspersed with tumbles and lifts, some more adventurous than others. Then a sudden gear change, of both pace and ambition. As the music becomes more insistent and varied a soundscape, the dancers begin to explore every more steepling levels. Two and even three dancers mount up on one another’s shoulders to explore verticals rarely attempted under a proscenium arch, before dismantling in a single elegant gesture of free-fall, with all the individuals safely caught as they reach the ground. It is the elegance and completeness of each of the elements that impresses above all. Also, the openendedness of meaning – strength and swagger to be sure, but also time and space made for delicacy, poise and tenderness.
Emotionally what is so compelling is the cumulative power of the whole. The human pillars multiply from one to several, and the intricacy with which individual dancers are thrown from one group to another in interlocking sequences defies belief. At points some figures seem to be genuinely flying. But this is not at the expense of intimacy either. At intervals in the action there are solo or duo numbers of rare poetry and detailed, intense expression, whether between men and women or same-sex couples. The evening culminated in a column of four dancers who briefly reached for the stars in a final moment of yearning, aspiration and achievement.
It was striking that women were performing the same exacting manoeuvres as men, whether in supporting dancers or flinging them through the air, and perhaps there we have one of the key ingredients of this immaculately integrated troupe, that self-consciously mixes up nationalities, ethnicities and gender to dismiss conventions and stereotypes in pursuit of a pure, embodied, unified flow of movement.
The backcloth could not have been more simple: just black side curtains and a lighting design on floor level that simply switched through a series of simple mood-intensifying colours. Likewise, the music offered a varied spectrum of colours and instrumentation, but all in service of the whole so that nothing detracted from the sumptuous visual sequences evolved from the dancers themselves,
I would very happily have viewed the programme through a second time immediately afterwards, if that were not an unreasonable request to make of a dance company that clearly had given their physical all. This unique work continues to tour and I recommend you make a special effort to see it if it is coming your way – you will not be disappointed.
Copenhagen Collective
Directors/Choreographers: Patrick King and Johan King Silverhult
Composer: Leif Jordansson
Until 6th September 2025, and touring
1 hour, no interval
Photo Credit: David Poznic