Hip-hop may have been born in the meanest streets of the Bronx, but in Paradis, performed by France's Compagnie Montalvo-Hervieu, the dance is rehabiliated to a celestial sweetness. Included within its wildly diverse cast of black, white, fat, thin, young, old, human and animal performers are a couple of break and body-popping virtuosos, and their dancing is so gracefully controlled that during their solos, the drastic glide-and-stall freneticism mutates to an angelic calm.
But then everything is possible in this feel-good show. The work is structured as a kind of parade in which dancers streak on and off stage to perform their special moves in numerous combinations. A big black woman enters on a roll of African dance rhythms, grinning admiringly at her own exuberantly quivering flesh. She's then paired with one of the skinniest of the white dancers, who aims hopelessly to mimic her graceful bulk. The two end up clutching their respectively ample and mimimal breasts in joyous giggles. Another woman preens through some spiky pointe work, while a dancer stamps his feet and ululates.
Meanwhile, video images of the dancers are shown at the back of the stage. At times they form a chorus, interacting with the live dancers; at others they're engaged in their own, seemingly impossible high jinks. They balance on each other's heads, or float upside down, attached to a partner's shoulders or heels. Sometimes they're enlarged into giants; sometimes they're shrunk to pixies.
Live and video dancers chase each other across the stage, often joined by dogs and donkeys and elephants, their moves cued to the music (largely bits and bobs of baroque). Elderly men and women and small children also wander through the piece, with the joins between live action and video sometimes near-invisible.
The work lasts an hour but its energy doesn't flag for a second. While it has little more substance than an advert for Gap, its charm and optimism are irresistible.
***** Unmissable **** Recommended *** Enjoyable ** Mediocre * Terrible
