Deepstaria, Company Wayne McGregor
Wayne McGregor's Deepstaria, Company Wayne McGregor (Naia Bautista), © Ravi Deepres
Wayne McGregor is one of the most celebrated British creative minds working today that you probably haven’t heard of (unless you follow dance).
Awarded a knighthood last year for his work in dance over the last 30 years, he is the Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet, a position he’s held for 20 years and the first to hold it without a ballet background – he was a Ballroom and Latin dancer growing up and studied contemporary dance at university. He is also the curator for the Venice Biennale for dance – one of the major exhibitions of contemporary dance in the world. His career is incredibly varied, from being a movement director on the Harry Potter films to choreographing the ABBA avatars for ABBA Voyage (no, really!). But if there is one thing he has become known for, it’s being a technological innovator.
Many of his pieces feature explorations of the way tech and dance can work together, and his latest piece for his own company, Company Wayne McGregor, is no different. The electronic score, we are told, is constantly recomposed by AI, and the set featured “Vantablack Vision® technology [read: paint] on stage to create unfathomable darkness”.
Having only ever seen his creations for The Royal Ballet, I was intrigued to see what McGregor would create on a company completely at the whim of his own creative imagination.
Wayne McGregor's Deepstaria, Company Wayne McGregor (Jasiah Marshall and Jordan James Bridge), © Ravi Deepres
Deepstaria, premiered last year in France and was named as one of The New York Time’s dance shows of 2024.
And to that I ask – were we watching different shows?
Because honestly, I struggled.
The work opened with much promise. From within the depths of the stage individual dancers dove forward into the misty white light to perform liquid solos and duets, falling to the floor as if they had the muscular make up of a Marionette doll. Accompanied by an eerie score murmuring in the background, we were transported into the depths of the ocean, the dancers creatures of the deep attracted to the light of a scuba diver’s torch. Near the end, the work was gentler, with dancer’s hands tickling strobes of light in expanding motions like small jellyfish. They were the literal Deepstaria (deep sea jellyfish) of the title – an unexpected twist. I was expecting the work to be a lot more metaphorical.
When watching McGregor’s work, you can imagine him in a studio saying ‘let’s try this’, ‘I wonder what this would look like’. Motifs are rarely repeated (apart from leg tilts and over extensions, of which we saw many), and shapes are constantly new and unexpected. Dancers might be crouching, arms extended to the side like some complicated yoga balance practice, the next they are lifted and turned as part of a trio. The Royal Ballet’s influence was also seen, with occasional turned-out feet and tendus (feet pointed out from the body). It’s fascinating until it becomes overwhelming.
Wayne McGregor's Deepstaria, Company Wayne McGregor, © Ravi Deepres
Because the work was structurally weak. While the beginning and end were evidently deep-sea inspired, the middle seemed to lose its way from this theme quite substantially, and sections (such as one bathed in red) felt quite random. Theresa Baumgartner’s dynamic lighting, including beams falling to the ground like rain and sheets separating the stage, and changes in music tone, from murmuring background noise to pacing electronic choral, helped to drive the work forward and add interest. However, these didn’t happen often enough and without a narrative or emotional thread, at an hour and a half I struggled to stay invested.
If you have never seen McGregor’s work before this isn’t a bad place to start. You’ll get a solid understanding of his unique choreographic style, which features his signature snake-like shoulder motions, torso rolls and extraterrestrial feel – he’s a must-see for any dance explorer. But if you are familiar with his work, you may end up leaving feeling like you’ve seen this all before.
★★★
Deepstaria by Wayne McGregor, performed by Company Wayne McGregor
Sadler’s Wells, London / 27 February 2025
Press ticket
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