Just because you could, doesn’t mean you should. That’s the queasy feeling that many artistic hybrids leave you with – for example, classical orchestra reworkings of Hacienda club anthems or UK garage hits. So this bold fusion of German baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s music with hip hop dance could have been a full body cringe. Like when politicians try to rap to impress young voters in the run up to an election.
But as soon as the dancers arrive on stage, it works. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment have done a residency at Acland Burghley School, a state comprehensive in Tufnell Park, Camden and tonight’s dancers are pupils or former pupils. They all bring their A game. While the musicians, in muted tie-dye greys and blues, perform oboe, bassoon, strings and harpsichord above the stage, the dancers ripple, undulate and bounce beneath them. Their energy and precision gets an A+ for both effort and achievement; Kim Brandstrup’s choreography opens Bach’s complex melodies up, with spinning, upending 3D shapes. A bit like how a BSL interpreter might sketch out a ballet or opera for deaf audiences, the dancers sculpt Bach’s lines through hand springs and body pops, beautifully blurring street dance moves with more classical ballet language.
Breaking Bach, Usher Hall, 20 Aug