Club culture has left its stamp on contemporary dance in recent years – the popularity of Sharon Eyal is a prime example – and here it is again in a double bill choreographed and performed by new duo Ekleido. Hannah Ekholm and Faye Stoeser have graced a few dancefloors, you can tell, and the door to the theatre opens to a blast of theatrical haze, house music and a big, buzzy crowd. Some of them might have been attracted by a big name in electronic music, Floating Points, who writes Ekleido’s scores (and is Ekholm’s partner).
Ekleido are influenced by voguing in particular, arms slicing and scrolling in precise poses with compelling style. The pair work in unison, with telepathic synchrony, or they knot their bodies together in complex sculptures. Then they thread one body through the loops made by another. The first piece, Splice, is reminiscent of Russell Maliphant’s work, the dancers housed within a square of light, exploring every possibility on the spot, before they expand across the stage and the bouncy beats get bassier and make you want to fling yourself around a dancefloor. But what Ekleido do is the opposite – it’s measured, clean, exact. Not robotic, though, but lithe and alert. They might be ultra cool but it’s easy watching.
Splice is a short, brilliant burst of dance that sets out Ekleido’s style. But where do you take it next? Their second piece, Rorschach, is partly an answer to that. It’s a trio: more bodies equal more possibilities, more insectoid limbs to play with, more origami angles (the third dancer, Jasper Narvaez, is excellent). The Rorschach inkblot is a good reference for what these symmetrical contortions look like, and for dance itself, where you can freely interpret what you see. There’s some blurb in the programme about this being a future society where individuals face a psychological trial; I have to say I didn’t see that, but no matter. When the music abandons its beat and goes wandering into general dystopian darkness (the lighting too), and the dance starts roving away from its tight focus, it’s less engaging, but there is a distinctive voice here.
Splice is at DanceEast, Ipswich, 22 November.
