{"id":69141,"date":"2026-05-20T16:08:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T16:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/?p=69141"},"modified":"2026-05-20T16:26:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T16:26:06","slug":"still-pointless-balletboyz-at-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/still-pointless-balletboyz-at-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Still Pointless: Balletboyz at 25"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a review I hadn\u2019t, initially, intended to write.<\/p>\n

Some days prior to attending the performance I watched a run-through at the company\u2019s studio in Kingston, southwest London. Guests sat in front of the wall-width mirror on hard chairs, feet tucked under as dancers in practice clothes hurtled past or skidded to within inches. Rehearsals are intimate, casual encounters.<\/p>\n

The following week I attended a public performance at Sadler\u2019s Wells. Costumed, with architectural lighting \u00a0(mainly Andrew Ellis\u2019s designs), and with music pumping through the sound system, each piece was transformed. From my far-off seat the same ten dancers became smaller figures, but choreographic patterns were easier to establish. It might have been less emotionally involving, yet wasn\u2019t, with the production retaining its intimacy due to how it was framed.<\/p>\n

It was only towards the end of the performance that I thought, oh, I wonder if Dance for You<\/em> is covering this? The company deserves to be profiled\u2026 So here we are.<\/p>\n

This review of Still Pointless: Balletboyz at 25 <\/em>comes without reference to notes I would normally make during a performance, so think of it more of a mulling over the company\u2019s achievements. Arlene Croce, American dance critic, once spoke of \u2018After Images\u2019, the impressions we retain after experiencing the ephemeral artform that is dance. My big take away from Still Pointless<\/em> is the dancers – all of them outstanding in their different ways. My second take away is the generous spirit that emanated from stage to audience, that the audience returned.<\/p>\n

Pointless<\/em> was the title of the company\u2019s debut production in 2001 so it is apt this production is titled as it is. Think of it as a celebration of still-performing, and (knowing how uncertain arts funding can be) of still being alive-and-kicking a quarter of a century on. So, hats off to founder artistic directors Michael Nunn and William Trevitt \u2013 they\u2019re still around, still passionate about what they do, and\u2026 still dancing into their 50\u2019s. Yeah, go older dancers! During the rehearsal I attended, the two of them were elsewhere finishing editing videos that feature in the show, but at Sadler\u2019s Wells I was surprised and delighted to see \u2018the boyz\u2019 open the show with Critical Mass <\/em>\u2013 the piece they\u2019d first danced all those years back. It\u2019s got a bit of history that work. When Russell Maliphant didn\u2019t think they\u2019d be up to it, they \u201cborrowed\u201d the DVD, learnt the piece then presented themselves to the choreographer with ( I imagine) a youthful, cocky \u201cwho says we can\u2019t?\u201d Persistence pays off.<\/p>\n

Still Pointless<\/em> is, in part, a retrospective showing work created over the company\u2019s history, along with a new commission: \u00a0a \u2018favourite things\u2019 kind of showcase. Sections of choreographic collaborations are performed by the current company of fabulous dancers whose steely spines can morph into melting jointlessness.<\/p>\n

Snippets of film between each dance provides context, and time for the dancers to change. Filming is second nature to Nunn and Trevitt so their obsessive recording of choreographers at work in their studio over the years gets put to good use. Voice-overs are chatty and personable, reaching out and connecting with the audience.<\/p>\n

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Liam Scarlet\u2019s Serpent<\/em> \u00a9 Amber Hunt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eight choreographers are platformed in Still Pointless: Balletboyz at 25, <\/em>with Russell Maliphant getting two shots. Following Critical Mass<\/em> was Motor Cortex<\/em>, choreographed by company dancer, Seiran Griffiths, then the splendidly amorphic Ripple<\/em> by Xia Xiu. This was followed by a section of Maliphant\u2019s Fallen,<\/em> and prior to interval came a harrowing section from Ivan Perez\u2019s Young Men<\/em>. Some years ago, I saw the complete narrative of Fallen<\/em> both staged and filmed, even so, this one scene works in isolation: an example of the company\u2019s ability to embrace complex human drama as well as non-narrative choreography, and dance that places humour at its heart.<\/p>\n

Liam Scarlet\u2019s Serpent <\/em>opened the second half, followed by a bopping club culture piece, Bradley 4:18<\/em> by Maxine Doyle. A thoughtful duet, Us<\/em>, by Christopher Wheeldon was the penultimate piece of the evening, with the quirky humour of Fiction<\/em>, by Javier de Frutos, ending the evening. In this he imagines an announcement of his own death before a premiere. Somehow at the end of expending all that energy, the dancers still had more in their tanks.<\/p>\n

This is a company of ten male-presenting dancers. This may not have been the case when the company began and when some of today\u2019s dancers were yet to be born. A lot happens in 25 years. A word about choreographer, Liam Scarlett. Watching the film of him working in rehearsal with the original cast for Serpent<\/em> I felt such sadness at a life cut short. Nothing to do with this company, but he, a gay man became embroiled in a scandal of inappropriate behaviour resulting in future commissions cancelled. His mental health spiralled downwards leading to suicide. While this was not made public in Still Pointless<\/em>, I knew it, and it made me look at the section of Young Men<\/em> with fresh eyes. Here was mental anguish. Set during the First World War this scene focuses on a young man who has bodily survived the carnage of the trenches but can\u2019t escape. His tortured mind results in a body torqued and tense. Broken bodies, broken minds. While this paragraph doesn\u2019t sit within a standard review, this isn\u2019t a standard review, and these are memories I take away. From its home base in Kingston the company embraces a range of community programmes including classes of those with Parkinson\u2019s. They are interested in the human condition, human frailty. Let\u2019s celebrate that.<\/p>\n

Think of Still Pointless: Balletboyz at 25<\/em> as a smorgasbord. Viewers get to sample tasty offerings, hot and cold, funny and dramatic. Often people (including some of my own family) say \u2018I don\u2019t understand contemporary dance\u2019. Don\u2019t worry about it, the films in between each piece explain and demonstrate key things you need to know. And a printed programme provides further information. I crave good programmes and can be highly critical of ones that are too arty or say very little. Thankfully this is a useful one.<\/p>\n

Balletboyz are touring throughout the UK. Seek them out, then sit back and enjoy.<\/p>\n