Two:Four:Ten (Russell Maliphant)

Before I get to reviewing the dance, which was pretty decent, I'm going to have a quick rant about why this entire endeavour strikes me as both bizarre and not a little foolish. Russell Maliphant is a great choreographer but his works were not designed for anything like the Coliseum stage (or the auditorium which was worryingly empty and I got my ticket on the cheap). Nor does such a small scale evening justify such high prices. This is a pretty standard Sadlers Wells bill, although even there it would be on the paltry side (seventy minutes of dance does not a particularly full evening make), and they'd never dare charge fifty-five pounds there (let alone a bottom full view price of twenty five). The recent "Eonnagata", which must have cost a fortune to put together and had Maliphant plus Sylvie Guillem and Robert Lepage, returns later this year costing between forty and ten. If they were expecting to sell out at these prices I don't know what they were smoking.

The evening itself was made up of four short works from the last ten years of Russell Maliphant's oeuvre. None are for more than two dancers (I kid you not). Was it a surprise to anyone that none really filled the stage? All were set to lighting by Michael Hulls, who is an absolute wizard, but no one seemed to have pointed out that what works on a smaller stage like Sadler's Wells looks pretty dark viewed in a massive auditorium. It's a common problem that contemporary dance is lit so dimly you can't really see what's happening but viewed from a distance (and I had a very nice seat thanks to the desperate last minute sell off that has happened at every single show of this Coliseum dance season) some of the dance might well have not happened at all.

"Knot" which opened the bill is evocatively lit but at the expense of the dance. It's also the least substantial piece in the evening. Lots of standard Maliphant grappling but without the relationships that make his work fly. Ivan Putrov and Daniel Proietto did fine work (and this is well outside Putrov's usual repertoire) but to very little end. The second piece has much more focus but sadly even less lighting and was oddly placed almost entirely on one side of the stage. Agnes Oaks and Thomas Edur are quite a partnership, sadly soon be departing the stage altogether, and "Sheer" suited them brilliantly. A twisting duet for a loving couple this worked despite the production failings. "Two X Two" is a crowd pleaser if ever I've seen one. A slow start builds to absolute whirl of energy with Dana Fouras and Proietto slipping in and out of sync in a heartbeat. I've no idea what it was about, but nor do I care, this just looked fantastic. Hulls' lighting is an absolute tour de force, the scale of the theatre no impediment to what is a thrilling piece.

The second half (an interval was hardly justified, presumably more money from the bar) consisted of "Critical Mass" a longer piece that despite some strong moments struggled to justify its length. Danced by Adam Cooper and Maliphant himself, it showed Maliphant as a remarkably strong dancer, lithe and masculine, but Cooper despite starting strongly struggled to make much impact in the central Tango section. This was the one piece that attempted to use the full reaches of the stage but ended up looking stretched for it.

Maliphant is a great choreographer but this was a small stage bill stretched to the limit. I enjoyed what I saw, which was less than I'd hoped thanks to the muddy lighting, but seventy minutes isn't enough content and especially not at the high prices. Artistically sound but commercially shocking.