Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu in Our Mighty Groove at Sadlers Wells | PHOTO: Rich Lakos
Sadlers Wells East,
London
The plot of Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu’s Our Mighty Groove is not exactly groundbreaking, but then it doesn’t have to be. As the opening show at Sadler’s Wells East, Sadler’s Wells’s new space in Stratford, it is aiming to do something else; to introduce audiences to forms of dance that they might not have seen onstage before, and, having done that, to get the audience on the dancefloor themselves. That, it does exceptionally well.
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Throughout the performance each character presents club dance styles including vogueing, waacking and house dance, alongside salsa and other more ‘traditional’ forms of dance. Formal and underground styles work together seamlessly in Igbokwe-Ozoagu’s choreography, helped by the fact that the performers are clearly enjoying themselves. The soundtrack, created by composer and music director Kweku Aacht and co-composer and sound designer Warren “Flamin Beatz” Morgan-Humphreys, not only allows the different dance styles their time to shine and to integrate, but also got an audience to respond as if “their song” had just come on at every beat change change.
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With the move from the original performance space of the Lilian Baylis Studio to a 550-seat theatre came the danger of losing the original intimacy of the work. However, given that almost all of those 550 seats can, and are, pushed back to bring the audience onto the dancefloor, Igbokwe-Ozoagu’s new second act infuses the work with a new sense of community. The company did something I did not think possible and got most of the audience dancing, with nearly everyone staying for the 30 minute afterparty too. It helps that on the night I attended, Sadlers Wells East was clearly pushing its goal to connect with the local community. Our Mighty Groove features 12 dancers from the local area – and the audience was filled with plenty more people from local dance and community groups in support. 