When Sylvie Guillem joined the Royal Ballet back in 1988, we couldn't believe our eyes. The French uber-ballerina was so good, with such attitude and allure, and such a Foxtrot Oscar smile, that we assumed she must be as happy as she made us feel.
But Guillem never felt good enough, she says in Sacred Monsters. Ballet demands perfection and obedience, and even for Guillem, it is hard, hardwork. She couldn't falter, let alone question, and everyone was twice as tough because she was so improbably good.
Ten minutes into Sacred Monsters and you have the dread sense you might be watching a celebrity whinge-fest, with Sylvie singing moodily (not very well, I have to report) and looking glum.
The piece is easily the most anticipated new dance work of the year, not least because it marks the maturing style of Akram Khan, the Kathak soloist turned choreographer, whom Sylvie, beating an elegant retreat from ballet, had eyed as a collaborator.
He agreed, and the result is Sacred Monsters, a 75-minute duet that draws on their different but equally demanding classcial dance disciplines.
Sacred Monsters explores the tensions between absolute art and the questioning heart. It's about academic perfection and human frailty, and although it has sets (iceberg-like panels), it's essentially a recital, with solos for Guillem and Khan (by Lin Hwai Min and Gauri Sharma Tripathi), and then four duets by Khan, each one dazzling.
This is a relief, because the opening sequence is pea soup. However, once into his duets, the piece blooms. The first has them linking hands in a rolling, curving cat's cradle. It widens and deepens, scoops and sways, the pair holding fast in a sinuous artistic whirl.
Then come funny, affectionate, mechanical doll-like moves, the perfect psychodynamic foil for Khan's next sequence where he flays and fails in his Kathak steps. All is resolved in the supported duet, with Guillem's legs locked firm around Khan's waist and the pair harmonising their arms like the multi-limbed Shiva, the Hindu God of destructive and regenerative power.
This is sandwiched by Guillem and Khan speaking. Especially revealing is Khan's story about losing his hair and how he considered disguising the bald patch with coloured spray.
Read More
Sacred Monsters is about artistic perfection and personal terrors, although it doesn't consistently resolve these in choreographic form. Part of the reason is having three dance-makers involved. Another is that we see more Kathak transmutations than ballet ones. A third is first-night nerves, and a sense of things rushed. With time and fine tuning, Sacred Monsters will soar.
Until 23 September. Information: 0870 737 7737.
Sylvie Guillem & Akram Khan: Sacred Monsters
Sadler's Wells
Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4TN
