Robert Tanitch reviews Dorrance Dance at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London EC1
Tap dancing became popular in America in the middle of the 19th century. Its heyday was the Broadway and Hollywood musicals of the 1920s and 1930s.
42nd Street, synonymous with show-biz, is enjoying a successful revival at Drury Lane. The sheer number of dancers (40) tapping away is phenomenal.
Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and Savion Glover have pushed the boundaries in the past. Glover’s Bring in “da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk was a major theatrical experience in New York.
Tap Dogs and Stomp have done well in the West End
Now it is the turn of Michelle Dorrance and Nicholas Van Young to offer a slick and dynamic fusion of sound and movement.
Dorrance Dance, a concert dance company based in New York, was founded in 2011 and this is her debut in London.
The award-winning dancer and choreographer is keen to expand audiences for tap dance by pushing it rhythmically, technically and conceptually.
She is admired for her creative ensemble choreography and her ambitious collaborative projects. The present show, which premiered in New York in 2016, is called ETM: Double Down. ETM stands for Electronic Tap Music.
There are seven expert tap dancers, a B girl, musicians and singer. The dancers produce their own soundtrack and control and manipulate it, pounding out the rhythm.
Electric trigger boards turn the stage into a big band. The vibrant sound, digital and acoustic, is recorded and live. The intricate synchronised footwork, every step, every swipe, every scrape, sets off a new element of sound.
There is also a dialogue, a contretemps going on between two male dancers, which is expressed only in tap. There are no words; the feet do all the talking and swearing.
The tapping of the company is amazing in its speed and unfailing in is energy but the presentation is somewhat repetitious and drab. It feels incomplete, as if Dorrance and Van Young have yet to find the right format.
ETM: Double Down at present feels more like a concert than a dance performance.
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