Colossus review – more dancers, more fun in a show that goes whoosh! | | Section

Ma donkey’s movements can be accompanied by an eagle’s. Whether in the military or the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, the Busby Berkeley games or the corps de ballet, a mass of bodies in constant contact equals an automatic wow factor.

Australian composer Stephanie Lake knows, and her piece Colossus, originally created in 2018, has been performed around the world. His videos went viral on the internet. It now has the largest exhibition in the UK with 60 students from London Contemporary Dancing School – large enough to fill part of Queen Elizabeth Hall.

The physical strength of many dancers is amazing. When they all run at the same time, if you’re too close to the stage, you can feel the air moving as if it were the leaves of a giant. Seeing the bodies become structures larger than themselves, or following the tiny movements that flow through the crowd, down to the millisecond like the glorious waves of Mexico, is instantly satisfying.

But this is not just a modern dance Rockets. In the show’s 50 solid minutes, Nyanja looks at the different things that bodies can mean. A melée, a group of people, a group or audience, a group of stories being told by a brutal leader, a gang chasing the victim. There is a constant question of where the energy is (the answer changes all the time), combined with the dancers moving beautifully as one. When the bodies are placed around each other for example, the beat is like a speaker’s diaphragm.

Well-drilled dancers are on point; it’s a real event of movement with lots of legs to get to the right place at the right time, and the complex arrangement of, say, six groups all dancing their songs together at the same time. The sea explores the possibilities, with surprises everywhere. You inevitably compare him to other choreographers who work with many bodies, such as Crystal Pite: Colossus doesn’t have much of the language, emotion or dramatic arc that Pite drives, but it’s a visually stunning, readable, entertaining and impressively crafted piece.