Rating
Excellent
Sadler’s Wells East opens with a banger. A vibrant mixture of exhilarating membership vibes and charming theatre ensures good occasions throughout!
Sadler’s Wells East launches with its inaugural manufacturing, Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu’s Our Mighty Groove with Uchenna Dance – and what a unbelievable present to open this new venue!
Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu is a choreographer and founding father of Uchenna Dance, whose dance fashion fuses Waacking, Vogue and House with conventional African and Contemporary. Her credit embody Mass Movement Choreographer on the London 2012 Olympics and the praised Head Wrap Diaries. Our Mighty Groove was first showcased at Sadler’s Wells in 2013 and later developed right into a full size manufacturing in 2015. For this iteration, Sadler’s Wells East premieres a mixture of younger dancers to hitch Uchenna Dance in a a lot grander scale manufacturing.
In the primary half of the present the viewers are onlookers, witnessing the opening of Club Groove. Guided by the voice of our MC we’re launched to a large number of great characters who grace the membership. Every transfer captivates, telling a narrative, and their infectious, excited vitality permeates into the group; heartily reciprocated by cheers from the viewers. The as soon as static spectators start to rhythmically transfer, slowly however certainly shedding self-consciousness because it turns into tough to take a seat nonetheless and resist the galvanic lure of the music pumping all through the theatre.
As the viewers is led in for the second half, it appears like a very completely different house. The entire auditorium has been transformed right into a dance ground with a central giant podium and smaller ones place round it. The viewers fills the house and is now immersed within the motion as every character weaves out and in of the throng from one podium to a different. The environment within the theatre turns into akin to a live performance area because the story crescendos into an epic and superb dance battle paying homage to a large number of dance types and genres. As the applause rings out for the curtain name, the music continues and the congregation is inspired to completely partake within the mutual celebration of Club Groove.
It was Igbokwe-Ozoagu’s personal expertise at a membership that impressed the idea for the present. She encountered folks of all ages and walks of life and by the top of the evening felt, as she places it, “like Janet Jackson”. It had such a powerful impact that Igbokwe-Ozoagu determined to recreate the essence of this expertise for stage, enabling an viewers to bounce with liberated freedom and be enveloped by the life affirming fellowship it may engender. From starting to finish the manufacturing is structured in a manner that invitations show-goers to take part and by the top of the occasion they do, loving each minute of it.
The solely draw back is that all of it ends far too quickly. Once by means of the doorways of Club Groove it’s tough to not be enthralled by the enjoyable and exhilarating spectacle of all of it, feeling greater than prepared to increase the celebrations with abandonment all through the evening. But like all golf equipment, finally the doorways should shut leaving the partygoers fizzing with good vibes while planning their subsequent attendance on the venue. It’s stated that the signal of an incredible efficiency is leaving your viewers wanting extra and Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu has definitely achieved this along with her rousing manufacturing of Our Mighty Groove.
Artistic Director and Choreographer: Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu
Associate Choreographer: Kloé Dean
Rehearsal Director: Joanne Bernard
Executive Producer: Grace Okereke
Costume Designer: Jodie-Simone Howe
Composer and Musical Director: Kweku Aacht
Set Designer: Simon Kenny
Lighting Designer: Matt Daw
Sound Design: Mark Webber
Dramaturg: Gail Babb