Gene Kelly may have danced and sung in the rain, but the performers in Materiali Resistenti's spectacular outdoor performance - part of the Greenwich and Docklands festival - go one better. They strut their stuff under a deluging waterfall. With their shiny black suits, they certainly give "wet look" new credence as a fashion statement.
Whether it pushes the boundaries of performance and dance is another matter. There is always plenty to look at in this impressive riverside location immediately opposite the Thames Barrier, but not always on stage - where a huge metal structure pours down gallons of water in a continuous waterfall.
Traffic up and down the river glides as majestically as the performers themselves, who slip and slide gracefully over the puddles. As darkness falls, the huge shadows cast on a neighbouring block of flats are as compelling as anything on stage.
Played to a hypnotic ambient trance soundtrack with strong Indian undertones, the performers dive, swing and soar through the water using ropes and nooses in a gymnastic display that defies the chill of a cool summer's evening, if not gravity. From the back of the steeply banked seating, it is all too easy to feel detached; up close, I suspect the performance would have more of a De La Guarda style impact and a greater sense of danger.
Ivan Mazoni's choreography is apparently conceived around the theme of water, but the theme of symmetry would be more like it. For Tweedledum there is always Tweedledee. It lacks eddy and flow. What is more interesting is the relationship of the performers' bodies to the deluging waterfall. They can slice through it with their torsos and limbs, and they can temporarily displace it, but they cannot smash it or transform it. The liquid remains as invincible as a concrete wall. Humanity can make no imprint or lasting mark upon it.
It is a pleasant enough hour and would be more enjoyable still on a warm summer's evening. But impressive though the final effect is, this owes much more to gymnastics with added spectacle than to anything else.
Until Sunday July 15. Box office: 020 8858 7755.
