It’s a collaboration that should thrill: two visionaries — one dance and one fashion — coming together to create a ballet on two of the world’s most distinctive dancers. Yet despite all the hype surrounding it, not to mention the talent thrown at it, McGregor + Mugler is decidedly underwhelming.
Thierry Mugler has always leaned heavily towards the theatrical, with everyone from David Bowie to Lady Gaga wearing his fantastical designs. Here he revisits a familiar theme, the fembot, dressing Bolshoi prima Olga Smirnova in a glitter catsuit, cyborgian armour and nipple coverings (her partner, Royal Ballet’s Edward Watson, also has a gold codpiece thrown into the mix). Yet far from enhancing Wayne McGregor’s off-kilter steps and trademark hyper-extensions, the design overwhelms them.
Chances are missed. One of the piece’s most interesting ideas — of masks being swapped, gender identities being played with — is raised then almost immediately abandoned. The piece runs for just 15 minutes but its ideas seem to have played out long before the end.
Completing the bill is Edward Clug’s sleek Radio & Juliet, danced by English National Ballet’s Katja Khaniukova and the Mariinsky’s Denis Matvienko, and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Faun, tackled with gymnastic relish by the Bolshoi’s Anastasia Stashkevich and Vyacheslav Lopatin.
