Michael Clark’s visit to the Barbican last October was such a box-office hit that they asked him back to do it again. Given that it featured classic anthems by rock royalty (David Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop) and some of the sleekest, cleverest costume designs for many a year, its appeal is no surprise. Add Clark’s enduring bad-boy reputation — pretty impressive for a man approaching 50 — his S&M aesthetic, and his celebrity pals and you have a sure-fire crowd-pleaser.
However, the piece leaves many baffled at Clark’s seeming willingness to play down his own considerable talent and play up that of the musicians and designers he works with.
Clark was a sumptuous ballet student and a youthful innovator, not to mention a good gag-cracker and collaborator. He’s on a par with all those he works with, yet at last night’s reprise the overwhelming sensation was not having been at a dance event but at a stylish rock gig — one where graphic illustrators and fashion mavens elbow their way to the front while the dancers are visual background. I don’t think many in the audience could describe how they moved during Bowie’s The Jean Genie or Heroes — not only is the music melodically overwhelming, but in Heroes a giant image of Bowie is projected on stage which completely dominates the dancers. Clark gives them some of Bowie’s mannerisms, such as running their hands through their hair, but these are tiny gestures that are easy to miss.
It’s often said that Clark mixes a processional allure with classical formality and hieratic subversion. It’s an intriguing splicing, especially when you include his hinting at vice and fetish. However, for my tuppence he turns coy at the last minute, as if he doesn’t quite have the courage to fully reveal the fetish he’s referring to and how it excites and releases — I mean this choreographically, of course, not literally.
Other issues with last night’s performance were some of the dancers who lacked the acidic elegance that underpins Clark’s style, and Peter Doig’s male nude image used in the new section — it’s decorative in a Matisse sort of way, albeit with arse akimbo.
This sequence, billed as 20 minutes of new work but more like 10, includes a ballet barre on which the women perform a sort of horizontal pole dance. This might hint at ballet itself being a fetish, although Clark doesn’t physically or emotionally examine the idea. Which leaves you thinking he’s more interested in pageant than enquiry.
Until June 12. Information 020 7638 8891, barbican.org.uk
Michael Clark Company: Come, Been And Gone
Barbican Centre
Silk Street, Barbican, EC2Y 8DS
